Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: Demand for declaring Mallikarjun Kharge as I.N.D.I.A bloc's prime ministerial face has triggered unease in JD(U) with more and more party leaders attacking Congress and Opposition grouping.
With Nitish Kumar appearing unhappy about the way things were unravelling, top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is learnt to have spoken to the Bihar CM to assure him that he is a valued colleague.
For Nitish, sources said, Congress is not the main problem but the efforts by a section of regional satraps like Mamata Banerjee to downsize him is.
On Tuesday, Mamata and Arvind Kejriwal suggested Kharge's name as the PM face of the bloc, a move that is seen as an attempt to nix Nitish’s ambitions.
Kharge immediately put a lid on any such discussions at the I.N.D.I.A meeting saying the bloc should first ensure that they get enough seats to form a government before discussing who should be the PM or the grouping’s face.
With Congress knowing well that there should not be any trouble within, Rahul sought to impress upon Nitish and clear any doubts about the PM face. Earlier, when Nitish took a jibe at Congress for not taking forward the alliance, Kharge had spoken to him.
JD(U) has now called a meeting of its National Council in Delhi on December 29. Earlier, the party had decided only to call its National Executive. Sources indicated that JD(U) may not precipitate a crisis by insisting on declaring Nitish as the face but would ask to emphasise that a "collective" of leaders will take the process forward.
On Friday, JD(U) MLS Gopal Mandal attacked Congress and Kharge following the latter's projection by a section as the face of the bloc.
"People will not acknowledge, they don't know who Kharge is. Now that you have mentioned his name, I got to know that he is the national president of Congress. Nobody knows him. Common people don't know him, they know who Nitish Kumar is. He will become the PM as everybody knows him," he said.
JD(U) insists that it was Nitish who sowed the seeds for the I.N.D.I.A bloc.
"Everything was done by Nitish Kumar. He played the role of convenor when the alliance was named I.N.D.I.A. He gathered all the regional leaders and helped in bringing them together for meetings time and again. They should choose Nitish as PM's face...Congress is not worth trusting," Mandal added.
Earlier, JD(U) MP Sunil Kumar Pintu had said that Congress does not have enough money and Tuesday's I.N.D.I.A meeting was restricted to tea and biscuits because it had no money to buy samosas.
Nitish, who added fuel to speculation about his unease by skipping the joint press conference on Tuesday after the meeting, is also speculated to be keen on becoming the convenor of the I.N.D.I.A bloc.
His close aides claim that he initiated the first move to bring Opposition parties together by first holding a meeting with Kharge and Rahul in April, and later hosting the first meeting of the bloc in Patna in May this year.