Mr Kumar and his Janata Dal United (JD-U) quit a 17-year partnership with the BJP last month over its decision to place Narendra Modi in charge of its election campaign.
The break-up pushed the BJP out of government in Bihar; Mr Kumar won a trust vote comfortably; the BJP boycotted the vote. Sources say that was engineered to avoid the ignominy of a rebel group of eight MLAs voting in favour of Mr Kumar
On Sunday, Amarnath Gami, a BJP legislator from Hayaghat, blamed Sushil Kumar Modi for his autocratic leadership. Mr Modi, a senior BJP leader, served as the Deputy Chief Minister till the alliance with the Janata Dal United ended.
Mr Gami has been suspended for three years for describing Sushil Kumar Modi as a "power hungry" man who has "hijacked the party" in Bihar. But others have spoken in his defense. Like Gangeshwar Singh, also an MLA, who said that if the JD-U is able to win more than 20 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar, Mr Kumar will get the country's top job.
"I am openly with Nitish Kumar and can make any sacrifice for him," he said.
To counter the revolt, senior BJP leaders in the state today met with Mohan Bhagwat, the powerful chief of the BJP's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS.
Sources in the BJP say the 12 rebels among the party's 92 MLAs blame its leadership for insisting on placing Narendra Modi in charge of its campaign though the JD-U had warned it would not accept a large role for the Gujarat chief minister, whom it accuses of being a divisive leader who did not do enough to stop Gujarat's communal riots in 2002.
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