The chief of Bharatiya Janata Party's Bihar wing, Sanjay Jaiswal, on Monday, 17 January, issued a warning to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's party over an online altercation which erupted between the Janata Dal United and BJP last week.
"If you question them by playing Twitter Twitter, then 76 lakh BJP workers of Bihar know how to answer it very well. I'm pretty sure in future we'll all take care of this," Jaiswal wrote in a threatening Facebook post.
The latest crack in the alliance has erupted due to Padma Shri award to a former IAS officer linked with the BJP.
Last week, JDU's national president Rajiv Ranjan and parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the Padma Shri conferred upon playwright Daya Prakash Sinha for drawing parallels between Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and Mauryan ruler Ashok in an interview.
Incidentally, the BJP had also backed the demand, and Jaiswal even went on to file an FIR in the matter, NDTV reported.
However, in Monday's FB post, Jaiswal called the request 'nonsense'.
"Why do these leaders keep tagging me and the central leadership and question us? We all have to stay within our limits in the alliance. It cannot be one-sided anymore. The first condition of this limit is that you cannot play Twitter Twitter with the country's PM," the leader stated.
Meanwhile, Upendra Kushwaha reportedly reacted to the threat, saying that they will "not back down on our demand and will continue till the award is withdrawn."
(With inputs from NDTV.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)