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Bihar: JD(U), RJD, Congress realign after two months of secret discussions
Nitish Kumar resigned as chief minister on Tuesday, and the Janata Dal (United) exited the National Democratic Alliance. The realignment reached its logical end with JD(U) joining the Grand Alliance and Tejashwi Yadav endorsing Nitish as the coalition’s leader and the state’s chief minister.
The first signs of a possible political realignment in Bihar emerged when chief minister Nitish Kumar earlier this year agreed to hold a caste census in the state that was backed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Nitish attended an iftaar party hosted by opposition leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on April 22.
Nitish resigned as chief minister on Tuesday, and the Janata Dal (United) exited the National Democratic Alliance. The realignment reached its logical end with JD(U) joining the Grand Alliance and Tejashwi Yadav endorsing Nitish as the coalition’s leader and the state’s chief minister.
The script of a JD(U)-RJD realignment was authored by ailing RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Congress top brass and Nitish, who were in touch for the past two months to form a new government, finalising details, including ministerial portfolios, coalition insiders said.
“For the last two months, there were secret talks going on between RJD, JD(U) and Congress central leaders on forming a government,” a senior leader and former minister in the previous Grand Alliance government said on condition of anonymity. “The deal was finalised 15 days back between Nitish and the RJD chief .”
Nitish’s visit to Tejashwi Yadav’s iftaar party by walking from his official residence to former chief minister Rabri Devi’s residence at 10 Circular Road on April 22 was a symbolic gesture by the JD(U) leader to indicate he was keen on a realignment, the people cited in the first instance added.
It didn’t go unnoticed by his then ally.
“Chief minister Nitish Kumar believes in symbolism and his visit to Tejashwi’s iftaar party had political connotations. It was definitely the start of a JD(U)-RJD friendship after the two parties snapped ties in July 2017, when Nitish left the Grand Alliance to form a government with the BJP,” an NDA leader said on condition of anonymity.
But the expectation was that this warmth would not change political alignments, this person added.
Still, the signs were all there.
Lalu Prasad’s elder son and Hassanpur MLA Tej Pratap Yadav claimed after the iftaar party that the RJD would form a government with Nitish, although his statement, made on a video released on April 23, was not taken seriously at the time.
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Even Tejashwi Yadav had in recent months moderated his attacks against Nitish and stopped referring to the JD(U) strongman as Paltu (somersault) Chacha (uncle), a term he coined after the JD(U) leader snapped ties with the RJD in July 2017 and formed a government with the BJP, political observers said.
Union rural development minister Giriraj Singh of the BJP, who represents Bihar’s Begusarai constituency in Parliament accused Nitish of betraying the people’s verdict and switching sides to fulfil his prime ministerial ambitions.
There were also indications that Nitish was upset with the BJP over the party’s bid to assert itself as a senior partner in the government in the past one year, with some leaders targeting his government over deteriorating law and order situation in the state and advocating a policy on population control. The BJP has 77 MLAs in the state assembly against JD(U)’s 45 . The RJD has 79 and the Congress, 19.
The BJP was initially opposed to the caste census, but relented later by attending the all-party meeting on May 23 called by Nitish to create a political consensus.
The JD(U)’s bid to show its closeness with the RJD started last year when Nitish on August 23 last year led a delegation of 10 parties, including the RJD, to demand a caste census along with national census at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the people cited in the first instance claimed.
Although the central government rejected the proposal of a caste census, the issue remained alive in Bihar when Nitish on June 1 this yeardeclared that a caste census would be conducted in the state.
To be sure, the realignment did not happen without hitches.
“The RJD top brass were bargaining for the chief minister’s post for Tejashwi, who was declared as the Grand Alliance’s candidate for the chief minister’s post in 2020 assembly polls,” a RJD leader said, asking not to be named. “But, a week back, things started moving fast when the RJD finally gave up its demand and agreed on Tejashwi becoming deputy chief minister.”
There is consensus on ministerial portfolios, this person added. “We will have around 15 ministers like in 2015, whereas the JD(U) would have 13-14 ministers,” the leader said. “Congress will get 2-4 ministers while Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) will get one ministerial berth.”
There was no official announcement on ministerial portfolios on Tuesday.
