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Bihar politics: Nitish Kumar's past detractors made deputies in new realignment
Experts, meanwhile, said the BJP’s choice of deputy CMs seems to indicate its plans to keep a check on the new govt
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will now have two of his loudest detractors —Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha— as his deputies, an equation which political observers said might have been formulated by the BJP as an attempt to keep the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) chief, who has a history of breaking alliances, in check.
Choudhary, the chief of the Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was on Sunday elected the leader of the legislature party and later designated as the state’s deputy chief minister. A member of the Bihar legislative council, Choudhary has served as a minister in the RJD , JD(U) and NDA governments.
In 2014, he parted ways with the RJD and joined the JD(U) government headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi. Three years later, he left the JD(U) and joined the BJP. He was named the vice-president of the state unit in 2018 and became a minister in the chief minister Nitish government after the NDA won the 2020 assembly polls.
Also read: Good governance poster boy to political weatherman, many shades of CM Nitish
Choudhary started sporting a saffron turban in 2022 after Nitish left the NDA and again joined hands with the RJD and Congress, saying that he will take it off after “dethroning” Nitish.
“People of Bihar are fed up with Nitish Kumar and he has become a non-entity in Bihar’s politics. The way he has cheated the people of Bihar, voters will teach him a lesson,” he said in March 2023 after he was named as the BJP’s state chief.
An OBC leader from the Koeri community, Choudhary has also accused Nitish of “plundering” the state for the last 18 years and had called him a “tired CM”.
“Nitish Kumar has been plundering the state for the past 18 years. Previously, RJD too had looted the state for 15 years,” Choudhary had said at a function in Patna in May last year.
He had also accused CM Kumar of being in power either with the support of RJD or BJP, and “having no votes of his own”. “Nitish Kumar has become irrelevant in Bihar politics. He has no votes,” he had said.
On Sunday, Samrat appeared to strike a conciliatory note and said: “We will work for the development of the state and win 40 seats.”
Like Samrat, 64-year-old Sinha has also been a vocal critic of Nitish.
A veteran upper-caste BJP leader, Vijay Kumar Sinha has served as the Bihar Assembly Speaker, a cabinet minister and Leader of the Opposition.
He was chosen as the Bihar assembly Speaker in 2020 after the NDA won the state polls. Sinha resigned from the post in 2022, when Nitish joined hands with the RJD-led “Mahagathbandhan” and the new alliance in power threatened to bring a no-confidence motion seeking his removal.
Before the motion was brought by the Mahagathbandhan government on August 24, 2022, Sinha had stepped down, saying: “The no confidence motion was against the rules... It does not send across the right message and to the chair.”
He was subsequently made the Leader of the Opposition and took a vocal stand against the government, attacking it on alleged deterioration of law and order in the state and appeasement of minorities, among others.
“We will free the state from the clutches of a corrupt and incompetent government. People are all watching. The Nitish Kumar government with RJD has brought in Jungle Raj in the state and entire machinery has collapsed. Criminals have become emboldened and Bihar has become a hub of cattle smuggling,” Sinha had said last year.
On Sunday, however, Sinha appeared to be more conciliatory. “We will work for the development of the state,” he said, and thanked the BJP leadership for “showing confidence in me” “The NDA government will establish good governance and there will be development,” he added.
Experts, meanwhile, said the BJP’s choice of deputy CMs seems to indicate its plans to keep a check on the new government.
“It is a clear message that two leaders who are known for their plain speak have been picked up to play an assertive role in the coalition government and work more independently without the big shadow of CM Kumar,” former director of A N Sinha Institute of Social Sciences, Patna, and social scientist DM Diwakar said.
He added: “There will be competition between the duo as to who could emerge as a CM face.”
Meanwhile, JD(U) MLC and party spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said the appointment of the two deputy CMs was an internal decision of the BJP. “The central leadership has accepted CM Kumar and they know the style of functioning of CM Kumar. The state leadership of the BJP too has accepted it. There could have been some political differences but we will all work for the development of the state,” he said.
Another JD(U) spokesperson, Abhishek Jha, said that CM Kumar “does not work under pressure and there was no question of anybody trying to undermine his authority as CM”.
JD(U) leaders Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Vijendra Yadav and Shrawan Kumar — all considered close aides of Nitish— also took oath as ministers in Sunday’s ceremony apart from BJP’s Prem Kumar, the sitting MLA from Gaya. Santosh Suman of the Hindustani Awam Morcha( Secular) also found a place in the state cabinet. He had served as minister in the previous RJD-JD(U) government before resigning in March last year following HAM(S) exit from the Grand Alliance coalition. Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh also took oath as minister.
