Will Chirag's discordant notes spell trouble for Nitish again as Bihar approaches polls?

Patna: Even as few more murders have been reported, of late, from across Bihar in general and Patna in particular, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is facing all the more heat from his ‘enemy within’ than the Opposition.

“How many more Biharis will fall prey to murders? It is beyond understanding....,” tweeted Union Minister and LJP (R) president Chirag Paswan, putting his alliance government headed by Nitish in the dock.

This is not the first time that the ally Chirag has assailed Nitish in recent times. Ever since he announced to contest the ensuing Bihar Assembly election, he has been at the forefront slamming the Nitish regime.

Repeat of 2020?

His vitriolic attack on the JD (U) strongman has, meanwhile, alarmed the ruling party which apprehends a repeat of 2020 Assembly poll, when Chirag fielded his nominees against the JD (U) candidates, thereby leading in their defeat at the hustings and the JD (U) being relegated to the third position as it could win merely 43 seats in the 243-member House.

“Chirag is in the NDA. He is also a Union Minister, but still keeps criticising Nitish government from the public platform. This is against the coalition dharma,” argued Nitish’s Cabinet Minister Maheshwar Hazari.

Nitish’s key aide also took potshots at Chirag on the latter’s assertion that his party would contest on all the 243 seats in the State. “If Chirag wants to contest the election on his own, then he should declare it publicly. It’s not proper to say one thing on record and something else off the record,” said the Cabinet Minister Hazari.

“There is no substitute to Nitish, nor there will be any. All of us know who was responsible for the JD (U) being relegated to third position in 2020. Still Nitish ji became CM and served for five years,” said Nitish’s key minister.

LJP hits back

The JD (U) sermon has not gone down well with the alliance partner LJP (R). “There are genuine concerns about the law and order, and we have been consistently raising the issue. We cannot behave like Dhritrashtra when the crime graph is showing an alarming rise in the entire state,” said LJP (R) Lok Sabha MP from Bihar’s Jamui, Arun Bharti.

“Raising people’s concern and communicating to our partners should not be treated as violation of coalition dharma,” said Bharti, who, incidentally, is the brother-in-law of Chirag Paswan.