The ongoing acrimony between ruling partners — chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United and the Bharatiya Janata Party — hit a new low on Monday with Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal threatening that the 76 lakh workers of his party in the state knew to give a befitting reply if anybody questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Do not play Twitter-Twitter with the Prime Minister of the country. He is the pride and prestige of every BJP worker. The 76 lakh party workers in Bihar know how to give a befitting reply if questions are raised on the Prime Minister,” Jaiswal said in a post on a social media platform.

The saffron party’s state president also questioned why some legislators (read JDU parliamentary board president Upendra Kushwaha) repeatedly tagged him and the central leadership while asking questions on twitter and asserted that they should talk directly if they wanted to say something.

Adding that the “days of one-sided traffic were over”, Jaiswal indicated his party will now take an aggressive stance over various issues in the state, even if it went against or displeased the JDU.

In the lengthy post, the BJP state president also scoffed at the demand by JDU national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh and Kushwaha to take back the Padma Shri and other awards given to author, BJP cultural cell national convenor, former bureaucrat Daya Prakash Sinha for his purported insult of Mauryan Emperor Asoka the Great.

“Tell me of a single instance of Padma awards being taken back in the last 74 years. We are 100 times more opposed to Sinha than you are… because Jansangh and BJP’s birth is based on cultural nationalism. If you are keen about Sinha being punished, arrest him in the light of my FIR against him and prosecute him in a fast track court,” Jaiswal said and reminded the JDU about alliance ethics.

The BJP and the JDU have been slugging it out of late over issues like the failure of prohibition, hooch deaths, caste census, special category status for Bihar, spiralling crime, poor law and order, and alleged insult to Emperor Asoka. Both the parties also do not see eye to eye on the National Register of Citizens, National Population Register, uniform civil code, population control policy, love jihad and other contentious issues.

The BJP is the largest party in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with 75 seats, followed by the JDU with 45, the Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular with four and the Vikassheel Insan Party with three, but is miffed about not being allowed to throw its weight around in the state government, nor being able to make people realise that Nitish is a chief minister at its mercy.

“There are several fault lines between the two parties (BJP and JDU). Above them is the basic difference — one claims to be ‘nationalist’ while another owes its origin to socialist principles and the thoughts of Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia. We are in power in Bihar as part of the NDA, but its durability depends on the ambition, action, and intention of our top leaders. The fault lines become wider when the leaders pull in opposite directions,” a senior JDU leader confided to The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, JDU leader Kushwaha said he did not take notice of Bihar BJP leaders because their central leadership took all the decisions for them. He also retaliated to Jaiswal’s post and said his party will keep protesting till Sinha’s awards were not taken back.

“Do you accept or not that Sinha’s uncharitable remarks on Asoka and comparing him to (Mughal Emperor) Aurangzeb is an attempt to distort history,” Kushwaha asked Jaiswal later in the day.

However, senior political leaders in both the parties also aver that they would stick together as of now for the sake of power despite all the differences, but the Uttar Pradesh poll results will decide their future course.

“The JDU is strengthening its organisation in the state. It is seeking voluntary financial contributions to prepare for 2024 Lok Sabha and 2025 Assembly elections. It is raising potentially divisive issues like caste census and special category status. Besides, Nitish once harboured the desire to become the Prime Minister. We must see things in a holistic manner,” a senior BJP leader told this newspaper on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the BJP has also started calling back all the leaders who had left the party during the 2020 Assembly polls after their seats went to the JDU to contest as part of the NDA.

It re-inducted former state party vice-president Rajendra Singh, who had crossed over to the then Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) to contest the Assembly elections after the seat he wanted to contest went to the JDU. A senior RSS functionary, Singh, was once considered as a probable candidate for the chief minister’s post if the BJP came to power in Bihar.