Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is known for his fickle commitment towards loyalties seems to be once again looking for new prospects outside the BJP led NDA in Bihar. The latest development which exposes Nitish Kumar’s plans to draw away from the BJP led coalition comes in the context of a split between the Hindustani Awam Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and the Lalu Prasad Yadav led Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD).
Manjhi, who has been a part of the opposition camp till now, had called for a change in the grand alliance leadership evoking a stern response from the RJD supremo’s son Tejashwi Yadav that “all are free to choose their own paths”, and later met Bihar Chief Minister and JDU supremo Nitish Kumar.
Now, with a clear split in the grand alliance, Nitish Kumar has once again gone fishing into the opposition camp. Manjhi said that he met the Bihar CM only with the request of restoring his SSG security cover. Nitish Kumar has also obliged with the former Bihar Chief Minister’s request. However, it is not unreasonable to anticipate that a lot more than just SSG security cover would have been discussed in the meeting that lasted for a full 50 minutes.
It is imprudent to believe that right after his split with the RJD, Manjhi decided to meet the JDU supremo only for the purpose of discussing his security cover. Nitish Kumar’s political volatility and callousness towards remaining a part of the NDA coalition are revealed with the manner in which he has entertained the former Bihar CM. Ordinarily, there was no need to entertain Manjhi, but the JDU supremo is clearly exploring prospects for an alliance outside the NDA fold.
Last month too, Nitish Kumar had held two meetings with the RJD supremo’s son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav. While the first visit had taken place in the Chief Minister’s chamber in the Bihar Assembly- the day when the RJD and the JD (U) had got together to pass a resolution against the NRC and NPR, the second meeting described as a “courtesy visit” had taken place in the office of the Assembly Speaker Vijay Choudhary.
Apart from the resolution against NPR-NRC, the RJD and the JDU had also cooperated in the Assembly, paving the passage for a unanimous resolution to get a caste-based census conducted- a long pending demand of the RJD and other caste based regional satraps in order to counter the emerging pattern of consolidation of Hindu vote in the favour of BJP overriding caste divisions.
Recently, media reports had quoted JD(U) sources as telling that the Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar had been using the expelled party leader Prashant Kishor to contact opposition leaders such as AAP supremo, Arvind Kejriwal and DMK chief, M K Stalin. It is clear that Nitish Kumar is trying to find a way to get back into the grand alliance fold.
As in 2015 Assembly polls and then in 2017, it seems that Nitish Kumar will take a U-turn in the run up to th 2020 Assembly polls also.
While the JDU supremo and sitting Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has been constantly trying to explore opportunities in the opposition camp, the BJP keeps pandering to him. The state unit of the BJP under Sushil Modi has been particularly unimaginative. Despite Nitish Kumar’s defeatist poll pitch the BJP has decided not to go solo.
Recently, when Nitish Kumar brought up the resolution against NRC and NPR, even the BJP lawmakers voted in favour of the Bihar Assembly’s resolution. It seems that under the uninspiring leadership of Sushil Modi, the BJP has completely given in to the whims and fancies of Nitish Kumar, who continues with his nefarious attempts to set up the BJP for a major betrayal.
The signs of Nitish Kumar trying to betray political loyalties once again are clear on the face of it, the BJP must spring into action and take the long due decision of going solo in the state.