Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 9: Within hours of handing over his resignation as the head of the Janata Dal (United) – BJP Alliance ministry, the former chief minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar called on the governor Phagu Chauhan the second time staking claim for the formation of a “Mahagathbandhan” ministry joining hands with seven other parties garnering support of 164 members in the present 242-member state Assembly.
He is expected to take oath as the chief minister heading the Grand Alliance at 2 P.M. on Wednesday, sources said.
Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP on Tuesday and asked that he be named the Chief Minister of Bihar as the head of a new “Grand Alliance” which includes Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress, the CPM and other Opposition parties.
“Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) of seven parties, one Independent will work closely,” Nitish Kumar said after his second meeting with the governor. In the first one, he resigned as Chief Minister of the government which consisted of his party, the Janata Dal United or JDU, and the BJP; less than an hour later, he returned to the Governor, accompanied by Tejashwi Yadav and other Opposition leaders, to state that they should be invited to form the next government based on their combined strength.
Even as his party was meeting, Tejashwi Yadav, age 32, held a parallel session with his MLAs, where it was agreed that they would support Nitish Kumar in a new government. “The BJP betrays all its allies and intimidate others,” Yadav said at the news briefing with Nitish Kumar.
The BJP has accused Nitish Kumar of “betraying the mandate of the people” by switching partners mid-term. This is an established trait of Nitish Kumar’s however, and one that has triggered vast criticism of his ideological flexibility and willingness to trade principles for power.
Till 2015, Nitish Kumar was in partnership with the BJP, though it was a fractious collaboration once it became clear that Narendra Modi would emerge as the BJP’s main leader. In 2015, Nitish Kumar cut the chord with the BJP and formed the government with Lalu Yadav and the Congress. Lalu Yadav, a Bihar veteran politician, is Tejashwi Yadav’s father. In 2017, Nitish Kumar stomped out of the three-party alliance, claiming that the insatiable corruption of Tejashwi Yadav as a minister could not be tolerated by him.
After he reunited with the BJP, the parties have exchanged public criticism on issues large and small. In June, Nitish Kumar contradicted the Prime Minister by stating that while the centre had refused to conduct a caste census, in Bihar, the counting of castes would in fact take place. Tejashwi Yadav backed him fully on this move.
Nitish Kumar’s anger with the BJP breached the danger mark over reports that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was foraging within the JDU for defectors. The Chief Minister felt that RCP Singh, a senior leader from his party, who had joined the union cabinet, was being used to turn the JDU against him. He therefore refused to extend RCP Singh’s term in the Rajya Sabha, which meant that the latter had to resign from Modi’s cabinet. On the weekend, Nitish Kumar’s aides publicly accused RCP Singh of corruption; in protest, he quit the JDU.
Nitish Kumar felt that RCP Singh was part of a second conspiracy by the BJP to attenuate his standing, the first being the BJP’s tacit support of another regional leader, Chirag Paswan, the son of the former union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. to serve as a vote-cutter for Nitish Kumar in the last general election. Chirag Paswan put up his party’s candidates against the JDU; it was the BJP who gained. As Nitish Kumar thundered against Chirag Paswan, the BJP refused to criticise him. Nitish Kumar felt that the union home minister Amit Shah was attempting a repeat of the Maharashtra model in Bihar through RCP Singh and ended the BJP alliance to pre-empt that.
His move has not come as a surprise to the BJP which knew that Kumar was preparing to quit the alliance but made no efforts to stop him believing that his “act of betrayal” would only strengthen the BJP in Bihar. Sources within the BJP maintained that contrary to reports, top BJP leaders did not contact Kumar. Despite knowing the trajectory of events, there was no effort to convince him to stay. This, sources said, was because the BJP is sure that Nitish Kumar has national ambitions and sees leading the opposition in the 2024 general elections as a better option.
The JD(U) sources had also earlier in the day indicated that as per the arrangements made with the RJD, Nitish Kumar might stay as the chief minister of the grand alliance for about a year or so before handing over the baton to Tejashwi Yadav to move to national political arena.
Now with Mr Kumar teaming up with Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal – currently the largest party in the Bihar assembly – and nine other parties, the BJP sources said the party will focus on all 243 constituencies of the state. Sources said the takeaway from the 2015 elections was that among the three major political parties of the state – RJD, JD(U) and BJP – any two parties together make for a winning combination. But with the diminishing power of Nitish Kumar, the state politics can become bipolar in the coming years between the JD and the BJP. With Nitish Kumar’s exit, the BJP will have all the 243 seats to contest to retain power on its own, the party believe.
As for the stability of the Mahagathbandhan ministry, Nitish Kumar should not have any problem if all the parties remained disciplined. Of the current effective strength of 242 members in the state Assembly, Kumar would have the support of 164 members including JD(U) – 46 (45 party MLAs, 1 Independent) RJD – 79, Congress – 19 CPI(ML) – 12 CPI – 02 CPI(M) – 02 and HAM of former chief minister Jeetan Ram Majhi – 04. The only parties of the government will be BJP 77 and AIMIM – 01.
