NDA govt in Bihar on the brink; crucial JD (U) meet today

RJD and Congress have also called a meeting of their MLAs in Patna on Tuesday, party functionaries said

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar appeared to be on the brink on Monday, amid a flurry of high-profile meetings between political leaders and heightened speculation that chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) could break ranks with the increasingly assertive Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and realign and form the government with Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the main opposition party in the state, after a meeting of all party MPs and MLAs called by the chief minister on Tuesday.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar during the weekly 'Janata Ka Darbar' programme at his residence in Patna on Monday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

Following categorical statements during the day from RJD and other opposition parties that they would support JD(U) if it snapped ties with BJP, top leaders of the saffron party, including its state unit president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, were huddled in the evening at the residence of deputy chief minister Tarkishor Prasad, who had met the CM earlier in the day in an apparent bid to calm matters.

RJD and Congress have also called a meeting of their MLAs in Patna on Tuesday, party functionaries said.

Meanwhile, ahead of a key JD(U) meeting, its spokesperson K C Tyagi said, “Nitish Kumar is the undisputed leader of the JD(U). He commands respect in the rank and file of the party. Therefore, there is no question of any kind of split in the party. Whatever decision is taken by the party under Nitish Kumar’s leadership will be accepted by everyone.”

RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwary said that convening meetings of legislators by both parties (RJD and JD-U) on Tuesday was clear indication that the situation was extraordinary. “Personally, I am not aware of the goings on. But we cannot ignore the fact that both parties, which together have sufficient numbers to muster a majority, have convened such meetings when an assembly session is not round the corner,” Tiwary told reporters in Patna, according to PTI.

“If Nitish chooses to dump NDA, what choice do we have except to embrace him (‘gale lagaenge’). RJD is committed to fighting the BJP. If the chief minister decides to join this fight, we will have to take him along,” said Tiwary.

He was also asked whether the RJD would be willing to forget bitter episodes of the past.

Kumar had done a volte face and returned to the NDA in 2017, leaving the coalition government with RJD and Congress which he led as chief minister. In 2014, after leading an NDA government for three terms, Kumar had joined hands with Congress and RJD and form a new grand alliance government.

“In politics, we cannot remain prisoners of the past. We socialists had started off opposing the Congress which was then in power. BJP has now become a behemoth, seems out to destroy the Constitution. We have to respond to the challenges of the times,” Tiwary said.

In Kolkata, Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the CPI-ML(Liberation), which is the largest Left party in Bihar with 12 MLAs, told PTI that the party “will extend a helping hand” if JD(U) were to ditch the BJP and set up or join a new coalition.

Bhattacharya was quick to refer to a recent statement by BJP president J P Nadda, who had said regional parties probably “have no future”.

Meanwhile, AICC national secretary and MLA Shakil Ahmed Khan said whatever was happening in Bihar was “shubh sanket” (a good sign) as “the BJP, which has a history of creating trouble for its allies, is getting a taste of its own medicine”.

“If the CM’s JD(U), which believes in socialist ideology, dumps BJP, we will definitely welcome it. But these are early days. We will discuss the unfolding situation at the meeting in the evening”, Khan told PTI over phone.

He, however, declined to comment on reports that Kumar had spoken to senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on phone Sunday night.

In 2020 Bihar assembly elections, the opposition’s “Grand Alliance”, comprising Left parties, RJD and Congress, had won 110 seats in the 243-member House. RJD has emerged as the largest party with 75 seats.

BJP won 74 of the 125 seats won by the NDA, outdoing, for the first time, its ally JD(U), which got just 45.

After a spate of defections and by-elections, BJP’s current tally is 77 while RJD’s has climbed to 80.

While there has been recurring friction between allies BJP and JD(U) since the formation of the current government at the fag end of 2020, the latest trigger has been former union minister RCP Singh, once a confidant of Nitish Kumar who quit JD(U) two days ago after a fallout with his mentor.

Ever since he was denied at third term in the Rajya Sabha by JD(U) earlier this year and had to exit the union cabinet hence, Singh has been taking potshots at CM Kumar.

On Sunday, he angered JD(U) leaders by saying he became a union minister because he was Amit Shah’s choice. “Who is BJP to decide who will become a minister from JD(U) quota,” JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said on Monday.

The JD(U) leader also said a conspiracy was hatched to cut Nitish Kumar to size in the 2020 polls through “Chirag model”, an apparent reference to Jamui MP Chirag Paswan whose party LJP had fielded candidates against JD(U) nominees and damaged its prospects.

CM Kumar stayed away from a NITI Aayog meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired in New Delhi on August 7 but attended a couple of functions in Patna. Kumar had earlier skipped a dinner Modi hosted for outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind and also the swearing-in ceremony of his successor, Droupadi Murmu.

A BJP leader said Union home minister Amit Shah may have announced that the party will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2025 state polls in alliance with the JD(U), but mistrust between the two parties remains.