Simmering discontentment among a section of Janata Dal (United) leaders against a possible political realignment in Bihar is said to have forced state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to cancel the party’s national executive meeting to be held later this month in Delhi.
The development comes amid talks of the rift within ruling grand alliance of the JD(U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress growing wider and Nitish Kumar contemplating re-uniting with former ally the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Though the party leadership did not officially cite a reason for cancelling the meeting, which was scheduled on July 22 and 23, JD(U) officials said it was prompted by the fear that open dissent by any of the party officer-bearers from across the country to Nitish Kumar’s tilt towards the BJP would cause major embarrassment to the Bihar chief minister.
Talk of troubles in the mahagathbandhan in Bihar began when Nitish Kumar expressed support for Ram Nath Kovind, the National Democratic Alliance’s Presidential candidate, even as the Opposition was yet to pick one. The Congress went on to nominate Meira Kumar as the candidate, but the Bihar chief minister stuck to his decision. After a brief lull, the hostilities came out in the open again after the Central Bureau of Investigation on July 7 filed a case against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashvi Yadav, who is the deputy chief minister of Bihar for alleged corruption.
Nitish Kumar then indicated that Tejashvi Yadav should either come clean or resign from his post. But Lalu Yadav ruled out his son’s resignation even as the BJP offered “outside support” to the JD(U) should the grand alliance dissolve.
Not all on board
However, not all in his party are in favour of a realignment. Nitish Kumar’s close aide and JD(U)’s prominent Dalit face Ramai Ram took the the party by surprise on Monday when he held a meeting with RJD leader Lalu Prasad. It was Ram who had said on July 11 that Nitish Kumar wanted Tejashwi Yadav to come clean or resign in four days. It could not be ascertained as to what transpired in Ram’s meeting with the RJD chief. However, after the meeting, the Dalit leader later denied having ever spoken of the four-day ultimatum.
JD(U) veteran Sharad Yadav too seems to have titled towards the RJD ever since talk of a realignment began. On Sunday, the senior leader had put out a tweet that tacitly supported Lalu Yadav and his family.
Sharad Yadav was also among the first Opposition leaders to call Lalu Prasad in solidarity after the CBI had raided some of his properties in connection with the alleged scam involving the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation on July 7. This despite a gag order from Nitish Kumar asking his party leaders not to take a public stance on the corruption allegations and the raids. The JD(U) veteran is also said to have expressed his reservations against joining hands with the BJP to the Bihar chief minister and his tweet indicated that he was not keen on changing his stance.
Some JD(U) leaders outside the state were also said to be keen on using the party’s national executive to put Nitish Kumar in the dock. The party’s Rajya Sabha member from Kerala, MP Veerendra Kumar, had publicly opposed the Bihar chief minister’s decision to support Kovind as the presidential candidate. Party officials said Veerendra Kumar and other party leaders from Kerala are also against the idea of dumping the mahagathbandhan and switching over to the BJP in Bihar. “They were planning to raise in the JD(U) national executive the issue of Nitish Kumar’s flip-flop over the last few weeks,” said a senior party leader.
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