BJP-JD(U) ties: Nitish Kumar meets Chautala in BJP ruled-Haryana, sets off buzz

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday met INLD chief and former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala, a meeting which has set off speculation whether a realignment of political forces is on the cards amid uneasy BJP-JD(U) relations.

While leaders from both the camps have remained tightlipped about the meeting, Chautala had, after meeting Nitish Kumar's emissary K C Tyagi last week, said if a strong third front is formed, then many who support the government will leave it and that he would himself contact opposition leaders soon to forge a third front at the national level.

Chautala's son and INLD Abhay Chautala meanwhile tweeted about Nitish Kumar and K C Tyagi's meeting with his father to enquire about his well being during which they "discussed political matters".

JD(U) general secretary Tyagi has been maintaining that politics should not be read into it as both leaders go back many decades and share similar socialist backgrounds.

Om Prakash Chautala plans to meet opposition leaders and urge them to come on one platform before September 25, the birth anniversary of former deputy PM Devi Lal.

He had also flagged his good relations with BJD's Naveen Patnaik and YSRCP's Jagan Mohan Reddy, leaders who on many occasions helped the Modi government in Parliament on specific occasions.

While JD(U) is the dominant ally of BJP in Bihar, Chautala's rebel grandson Dushyant Chautala-led party JJP is an ally of BJP in Haryana.

In last year Bihar Assembly polls, late Union Ram Vilas Paswan's party LJP, led by his son Chirag Paswan, had ensured by fielding candidates against Nitish Kumar's party even while supporting the BJP that the latter emerges as the single largest party while JD(U)'s number substantially comes down. While the BJP later distanced itself from Chirag, many in the JD(U) believed BJP's subtle politics behind the whole episode.

Ever since then, the ruling JD(U) in Bihar led by Nitish Kumar had tried to strengthen itself, inducting NDA's former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha into the party to widen its OBC base as Kushwaha is a prominent leader of Koiri community that has six per cent votes in the state.

The coalition of BJP and JD(U) in Bihar has been for long considered kind of a social coalition with BJP keeping a captive vote of upper caste votes and Nitish Kumar bringing with him Extremely Backward Castes (EBC) and Mahadalit votes. In this backdrop of a complementary coalition of the two parties, Singh's appointment as JD(U) chief raises eyebrows.

Even as BJP agreed to make Nitish Kumar CM as promised even after JD(U) getting a far lesser number of seats than BJP, some leaders from BJP have quite frequently fired their salvos against the Chief Minister.

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JD(U) seems to have gone from 'ally with a difference' to 'ally with differences' level, taking a different stand from BJP on several issues -- most recently on the OBC census and the population control law proposed by Yogi Adityanath government of BJP in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

JD(U) MPs have sought time from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impress on the government to come out with caste census months after the Centre informed the Parliament in March that there is no proposal at present to release the report of the caste census carried out in 2011.

On Saturday, the party passed reiterating that the central government should come out with a caste census voicing its concern against any coercive measures like the enactment of laws to control population growth even as more BJP ruled states have now batted in favour of this law.

A more clear picture of how JD(U) will move forward could be clear when the party's national council, the largest organisational body of the party, meets in Patna this month.

After taking charge Singh had already said he would work to strengthen the JD(U) in different parts of the country. The party has also announced to contest elections in poll-bound BJP-ruled states Uttar Pradesh and Manipur, preferably with BJP if a "respectable number of seats" is given to it. JD(U) has said it will contest 200 seats in UP otherwise.

Singh also said he will reach out to those leaders who were once part of the organisation but moved out due to some reasons. The last prominent leader of JD(U) to be forced to leave the party was Sharad Yadav. Many leaders at level have also left the party and went to Chirag Paswan-led LJP.

A few years back there was a failed attempt to bring together different splinter groups of old Janata Parivar like JD(U), INLD, SP and few others.