Nitish rebuffs BJP for the fourth time in one month

JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh dismissed queries about Kumar’s absence at the NITI Aayog meet chaired by PM Modi

Is it all well between the two major ruling alliance partners – the JD (U) and the BJP - in Bihar? Or, is the state heading for a major political churning just like 2013 (when Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP) and 2017 (when Nitish deserted the Mahagatbandhan)?

The political grapevine was abuzz with several theories after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar skipped the Niti Aayog meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Sunday. Sources said Nitish, who recently recovered from Covid-19, was advised rest and, therefore, wanted to send his deputy Tarkishore Prasad (Deputy CM from BJP quota) for the meeting but was told that the think tank meeting (of Niti Aayog) was strictly meant for Chief Ministers.

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Incidentally, Nitish attended a National Handloom Day function at Samvad (CM Secretariat) followed by another function at Bihar Museum on Sunday evening. As per his official schedules, Nitish will also hold his weekly Janata Durbar on Monday, a decision which, in turn, has raised many an eyebrow in the BJP circles who questioned Nitish’s “precautionary measure” following Covid-19.

One too many

This is the fourth occasion in the last one month when the JD (U) strongman has rebuffed the BJP despite strong indications from top leaders of the saffron camp that “all is well in Bihar.” On July 15, Nitish skipped a high-level meeting convened by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. A week later, Nitish skipped a farewell dinner on July 22, hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the honour of outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind (with whom Nitish shared a very warm relationship as Kovind was Bihar Governor before moving to the Rashtrapati Bhavan).

Then again, Nitish skipped the swearing-in function of President Droupadi Murmu on July 25. When there was murmuring within the ruling alliance over Nitish’s constant rebuffs to the BJP, it was the JD (U) Parliamentary Party chairman Upendra Kushwaha who defended Nitish saying “The Chief Minister is a busy person and has lot of important work to attend. He cannot be present at all the places all the time. One should not read too much into such episodes.”

Sources told Deccan Herald that Nitish was reportedly miffed with the “too aggressive posturing of the BJP during its two-day conclave in Bihar on July 30 and 31 where the BJP advocated that it should gird up its loin to contest 200 seats out of 243 constituencies in Bihar and leave the remaining 43 seats for Nitish during the Assembly polls.”

Following fresh round of friction (despite Amit Shah’s attempt to assuage Nitish’s ruffled feathers), the BJP and the JD (U) are treading their paths cautiously. The saffron camp is keenly watching how the Leader of the Opposition has stopped criticising Nitish in the last few months, and vice-versa.

“No one can predict for sure what will happen in future, as politics is the art of the possible,” remarked RJD spokesperson Chitaranjan Gagan.

Nitish aide quits

The RJD leader’s assertion is not wide off the mark as no body had thought that Nitish’s Man Friday and former Union Minister RCP Singh (who quit as Union Steel Minister in July after he was denied another Rajya Sabha term reportedly after earning the wrath of Nitish by becoming too close to the BJP) will quit the JD (U) once and for all.

RCP Singh, who also served as the national president of the JD (U), quit Nitish’s pocket organisation on Saturday after he was charged with purchasing 58 plots in the last nine years in the name of his wife and two daughters (one is an IPS officer and the other advocate). “Attempts are being made to defame me. But let me tell you: an ambitious Nitish will never become PM in any of his seven lives,” averred RCP, denying he was getting closer to the BJP.