A high-voltage drama at Nitish Kumar’s residence in Patna on Sunday threw up two questions. Has the politician got what he set out to achieve by resigning as Bihar’s chief minister on Saturday? And is Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav becoming a hurdle to the attempt by Bihar’s non-Hindutva parties to form an alliance?
On the first matter, it became clear that Kumar had successfully torpedoed the attempts by dissidents in his JD(U) party to defect to the BJP, a move that had been underway for a few weeks. The overwhelming support he got on Sunday at the JD(U) legislative party meeting forced almost all the dissidents to fall in line and join the chorus asking the chief minister to withdraw his resignation. For his part, the JD(U) leader remained firm through the day with his decision to quit.
Kumar had resigned as chief minister on Saturday, taking moral responsibility for the party’s drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections. In reality, observers said, the decision was a well-calculated move to shock three dozen upper-caste dissidents who were planning to defect to the BJP. These JD(U) legislators are said to have been in touch with BJP leaders for some weeks and were preparing to defect if the election results showed major gains for the saffron party in Bihar.
Sunday’s show of strength seemed to have stunned the dissidents. But that was just one part of the story. Politicking in the JD(U) prevented it from making another move: to construct a non-Hindutva alliance in the state.
Party officials blamed JD(U) president Sharad Yadav for the logjam. Yadav’s determined bid, despite severe opposition in the party, to replace Nitish with a person loyal to him is said to have hindered the attempt to strike a deal with its archrival, Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Neither of the two names doing round as replacements for Nitish – JD(U) legislators Vijendra Yadav and Narendra Narayan Yadav – would be acceptable to Lalu Prasad, said RJD officials. According to RJD officials, Nitish, who belongs to the Kurmi community, is the face of the party, and any alliance between JD(U) and the RJD has to be an alliance between Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar. “How can a nondescript Yadav be accepted as the leader by the RJD, a party that has Yadavs as its core vote base?” asked a senior RJD leader on condition of anonymity.
Even inside the JD(U), there are hardly any takers for the names being backed by the party president. In fact, Sharad Yadav had to face protests from party workers assembled outside Nitish’s home for allegedly forcing the chief minister’s resignation. Such was their indignation that the JD(U) president’s car had to be escorted inside Nitish’s residence by security personnel.
What is significant, however, is that Lalu and Nitish remained in touch through the day despite the deadlock in the JD(U). Publicly, though, Lalu Prasad said that the JD(U) has not yet approached him about a deal. On a new secular alliance in Bihar, he had this to say: “I will work for all secular forces to come together. If need be, I can join hands with anyone.”
For the moment, the drama has been postponed till Monday. As the JD(U) MLAs attending the legislature party meeting on Sunday refused to budge, Nitish sought a day’s time to consider the matter. As the JD(U) meeting remained inconclusive, the RJD also postponed its meeting for Monday.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
On the first matter, it became clear that Kumar had successfully torpedoed the attempts by dissidents in his JD(U) party to defect to the BJP, a move that had been underway for a few weeks. The overwhelming support he got on Sunday at the JD(U) legislative party meeting forced almost all the dissidents to fall in line and join the chorus asking the chief minister to withdraw his resignation. For his part, the JD(U) leader remained firm through the day with his decision to quit.
Kumar had resigned as chief minister on Saturday, taking moral responsibility for the party’s drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections. In reality, observers said, the decision was a well-calculated move to shock three dozen upper-caste dissidents who were planning to defect to the BJP. These JD(U) legislators are said to have been in touch with BJP leaders for some weeks and were preparing to defect if the election results showed major gains for the saffron party in Bihar.
Sunday’s show of strength seemed to have stunned the dissidents. But that was just one part of the story. Politicking in the JD(U) prevented it from making another move: to construct a non-Hindutva alliance in the state.
Party officials blamed JD(U) president Sharad Yadav for the logjam. Yadav’s determined bid, despite severe opposition in the party, to replace Nitish with a person loyal to him is said to have hindered the attempt to strike a deal with its archrival, Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Neither of the two names doing round as replacements for Nitish – JD(U) legislators Vijendra Yadav and Narendra Narayan Yadav – would be acceptable to Lalu Prasad, said RJD officials. According to RJD officials, Nitish, who belongs to the Kurmi community, is the face of the party, and any alliance between JD(U) and the RJD has to be an alliance between Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar. “How can a nondescript Yadav be accepted as the leader by the RJD, a party that has Yadavs as its core vote base?” asked a senior RJD leader on condition of anonymity.
Even inside the JD(U), there are hardly any takers for the names being backed by the party president. In fact, Sharad Yadav had to face protests from party workers assembled outside Nitish’s home for allegedly forcing the chief minister’s resignation. Such was their indignation that the JD(U) president’s car had to be escorted inside Nitish’s residence by security personnel.
What is significant, however, is that Lalu and Nitish remained in touch through the day despite the deadlock in the JD(U). Publicly, though, Lalu Prasad said that the JD(U) has not yet approached him about a deal. On a new secular alliance in Bihar, he had this to say: “I will work for all secular forces to come together. If need be, I can join hands with anyone.”
For the moment, the drama has been postponed till Monday. As the JD(U) MLAs attending the legislature party meeting on Sunday refused to budge, Nitish sought a day’s time to consider the matter. As the JD(U) meeting remained inconclusive, the RJD also postponed its meeting for Monday.
