The Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Janata Dal-United and the Hindustani Awam Morcha are holding meetings of their legislators today…reports Asian Lite News
Amid speculation that Bihar’s Janata Dal-United might separate from the NDA in Bihar, RJD state President Jagadanand Singh claimed that his party is ready for every war.
He, however, denied any kind of pact with JD-U at this juncture.
“We have not given any proposal or invitation to Nitish Kumar to join the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar. We have called for the meeting on Tuesday to prepare plans for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha and 2025 Vidhan Sabha election. We are ready to fight any war,” Singh said.
Apart from the RJD, the JD-U and the HAM also announced meetings of their legislators on Tuesday.
JD-U state President Umesh Kushwaha said: “Tomorrow’s (Tuesday) meeting is being held to take the feedback of our MLAs, MLCs and MPs about the current situation.”
Interestingly, JD-U national President Lalan Singh said: “We have called a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation arising due to the R.C.P. Singh episode. Nitish Kumar will be chairing the meeting and legislators and MPs will put their points.”
Jitan Ram Manjhi, the patron of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) is the only leader who claimed that what would be the decision taken by Nitish Kumar, his party will support him. HAM is with Nitish Kumar and JD-U. However, he also said that the NDA is intact and Nitish Kumar will rule the state.
Meanwhile, a JD-U MLA said: “Our top leadership has asked every MLA to reach Patna by 8 a.m. on Tuesday. At present, we do not know what will happen in the meeting but I expect that a big political storm will come up after the meeting. CM Nitish Kumar and national President Lalan Singh will be expected to take a big decision that decides the fate of the NDA in Bihar.”
Present option for BJP
The BJP is running out of options to do the damage control. Sources said that the party’s top leadership desperately wants to stay in power till 2024 and at the same time it is also taking a dig at JD(U). The BJP state president in particular frequently attacked the Nitish Kumar government apart from other leaders.
The roadshow of Amit Shah and J.P. Nadda in Patna on July 31 could be the final nail in the souring political relation between the BJP and JD(U).
The BJP did the ‘Prawas’ programme in 200 Assembly constituencies of Bihar, which has been taken as a threat by the JD(U). The party’s think tank realised that the BJP is violating the alliance norms. Hence, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, the national president of JD(U) said that the BJP was free to do Prawas programme in all 243 seats and the JD(U) is also entitled to do the same.
In case of the formation of a new government in Bihar, Nitish Kumar, who is considered as having a sharp political brain, would not resign from the chief minister post, like he did in 2017 after he broke the alliance with Mahagathbandhan and formed the government with BJP. At that time, Nitish Kumar knew that the Governor was appointed by BJP and it would not impose the President’s rule in the state.
At present, the same Governor is in the Raj Bhawan. Nitish Kumar, has the power to sack every minister of the BJP from his cabinet and appoint MLAs of RJD, Congress and Left parties as ministers. He did the same in 2013 and he may repeat the same in 2022.
In case of the BJP applying pressure on the Governor to ask Nitish Kumar to prove the majority in the House, he would prove it with the help of RJD, Congress and the Left parties.
Nitish Kumar is also feeling uneasy with the track record of BJP. The saffron party, over the years, has been weakening its alliance partners like its oldest allies Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Nitish Kumar probably believes that if he stays with the BJP for too long, it may hurt his party. Lalan Singh has already said that the BJP conspired against JD(U) in the 2020 Assembly election by using Chirag (Chirag Paswan) model. As a result, the party reached 43 seats in the Bihar Assembly. In 2015, JD(U) had 69 seats.
Nitish Kumar may use corruption cases against the BJP ministers as a tool to exit from the NDA. Ram Surat Rai, the land reforms and revenue minister is facing the charges of transfer-posting case and Tar Kishore Prasad, the deputy CM is facing the corruption charges of alloting contracts of ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’ to his family members.
