Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar talks to the media in New Delhi on 7 September 2022. | PTI
When Nitish Kumar recently took back the reins of the JD(U), one of the speculated reasons for the dramatic shake-up was the failure of his predecessor to lobby for a honourable position for the Bihar chief minister in the opposition’s INDIA bloc.
The other allegation against the party’s outgoing national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh a.k.a Lalan Singh was his growing proximity to RJD founder Lalu Yadav. The RJD is the biggest party in the ruling mahagathbandhan in the state. The more serious charge was the threat of Lalan engineering a vertical split in the JD(U) legislative party that has 44 MLAs, as 12 of them are said to be in his camp. That is a critical number as the ruling alliance in the state minus the JD(U) is just eight short of a simple majority. So, Nitish had to wrest back control of the party to prevent poaching. It is this survival instinct that has kept him in power over the years.
Hard bargaining for Lok Sabha seats within the mahagathbandhan in Bihar is due shortly, which can be expected to produce quite a few sparks. There were doubts about Lalan’s commitment to get the best seat deal, given his leaning towards the RJD. He had earlier suggested that Nitish cede the chief ministership to RJD’s Tejashvi as soon as possible so as to find time to lead the opposition front. When a party chief wants to hand over the reins of power to a powerful ally on a platter, his commitment to nurture his own party naturally becomes suspect. But with the Enforcement Directorate vultures hovering over Tejashvi’s head in the land-for-railway jobs scam, the deputy CM’s continuation in power is suspect, a prospect Nitish would take heart from.
Nitish fancies himself as the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc, which was why he earlier did grandstanding by claiming the next Bihar elections would be fought under the leadership of Tejashvi. Nitish’s wealth of experience, clean image, rustic approach, soft-spokenness and backward class politics gave him bragging rights of being a mass leader. But his easy political morals and past association with the BJP to protect his self-interest makes his commitment a suspect in the opposition’s eyes. He can only blame himself for the trust deficit. If Nitish were to do a chameleon again, whatever little reputation he has as a credible leader would be mud.
