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In silence on RCP Singh’s RS nomination, Nitish looks to set tone for BJP
Biennial elections to fill five vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar will be held on June 10 and the last date for filing of nominations is May 31
By keeping everyone guessing about the re-nomination of union minister and his party colleague RCP Singh to the Rajya Sabha, Bihar chief minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar has delivered a twin message-- that he is the one who calls the shots in the JDU and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ally of his party in the state will have to keep its end of the bargain to ensure the continuity of the coalition government in the state, said people aware of the developments.
Biennial elections to fill five vacant Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar will be held on June 10 and the last date for filing of nominations is May 31. The JDU which has 45 legislators, earlier had two members in the RS, and all eyes are now on whether Singh, who holds the portfolio of steel, will make it back to the Upper House.
People close to the CM said the delay in naming Singh as the nominee for the Upper House has reiterated the edgy ties between the allies. “The selection of Aneel Hegde (for the by-poll necessitated by the demise of King Mahendra) was announced well in time and he has since been elected unopposed. That has not been the case for Singh,” said a JDU leader who asked not to be named.
While Singh told reporters that there is no souring of ties between him and his party boss, two of his party colleagues said, the CM did not approve of Singh being picked for the union cabinet.
After the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Singh was deputed by the party to hold talks with the BJP on the issue of ministerial berths for the JDU. While the party had not nominated anyone for the cabinet, it signaled in 2021 (before the cabinet expansion) that unlike the other allies (LJP, Apna Dal and RPI) who were happy with the single berth offered to them, it wanted proportional representation (taking into account the LS members) in the cabinet. However, the talks ended with Singh being picked for a ministerial position. Subsequently, the party started feeling that he seemed closer to the BJP than it,” added the JDU leader.
Kumar is believed to have recently held a round of discussions with some ministers and legislators to seek their views on Singh’s renomination.
If Singh is not nominated to the upper house, as per rules, he may have to step down as minister. This has put the BJP in a quandary. “The BJP now faces a predicament -- should it allow Singh to quit or send him from its own quota, in which case, it runs the risk of rubbing the CM the wrong way,” said a BJP leader in Delhi.
The BJP cannot afford to upset its e ally, as it also needs the support of JDU for the selection of two of its candidates to the Upper House.
The nomination of Singh is the most recent hiccup in the ties between the partners. According to JDU leaders the strain began to show in the run-up to the 2020 assembly election when the BJP’s other ally, the LJP led by Chirag Paswan began a tirade against Kumar.
The Bihar CM was piqued that the BJP did not put an end to Paswan’s attacks against him and covertly allowed LJP to field former BJP leaders against JDU candidates.
“The CM felt Paswan had been instigated to spoil the show for the JDU. What cemented this suspicion was when senior BJP leaders such as Rajinder Singh and Rameshwar Chaurasia quit the party and contested on a LJP ticket,” said a second JDU leader who too asked not to be named.
An assessment of the poll performance by the CM, based on his interaction with every candidate led him to conclude that the JDU lost 30-35 seats because of the negative campaign run by Paswan added the second leader.
A third JDU leader said Kumar felt let down by the BJP, which won more seats in 2020 than the JDU. “In 2010, when Kumar won with a bigger mandate, there was pressure on him to go alone. But he did not alter the equation with the BJP, did not change the ministers or reduce the berths given to the BJP in the state cabinet. Contrary to this, when the BJP won more seats than the JDU in 2020, they not only sought more ministerial berths but also took important portfolios,” the third leader said on condition of anonymity.
In recent times, the Bihar CM has led a coalition of parties to seek caste bases census, an issue that the BJP has been reticent to support. He has also taken a divergent view on the issue of implementation of the uniform civil code and had a spat with the Speaker of the Assembly (a BJP member) to relay the message of discomfiture with the BJP.
The absence of leaders who can act as a bridge between the two parties has also been underlined as a reason for differences being exacerbated. “There was a time when (former union minister) Arun Jaitley (who passed on in 2019) and (former Deputy CM) Sushil Modi were the points persons. Then Bhupender Yadav took charge as the state in-charge but a gap in communication has been felt,” said the second JDU leader.
A recent meeting between Kumar and union minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Patna is now being interpreted as a sign of the BJP trying to placate the ally to ensure the longevity of its alliance till 2025.
“It is important for the BJP to have JDU on its side. It will need the party’s help to elicit support from the OBC vote bank as it faces a coalition of opposition parties in 2024, and even in Bihar (in 2025) it is not assured of a majority if it goes it alone,” said the BJP leader.
(This article has been updated to accurately reflect a quote from a JDU leader)
