Amid political bustle, Nitish calls party meet

Till a day ago, it looked more like wide speculation. But on Monday, in a significant development, which could have wide political ramifications, Bihar appeared to be heading towards an imminent change of political allegiances. All major players, except the BJP, have convened their legislature party meeting on Tuesday though there is no Assembly session going on here.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has convened a meeting of his party MPs (Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha), MLAs and MLCs on Tuesday. Officially, it has been said that Nitish wants to have their feedback on caste census, but those in the know of things averred that he would gauge their mind to know whether the JD(U) should shift its political allegiance, dump the NDA and rejoin the Mahagatbandhan.

This comes close on the heels of RJD vice president Shivanand Tiwary’s assertion on Monday: “Gale lagaiyenge (Will embrace him), if Nitish dumps the NDA and joins us.”

Also Read: Amid political crisis in Bihar, BJP summons senior leaders to Delhi

Sources said the JD(U) legislators have started reaching Patna and have, in private, argued that they would prefer another alliance instead of mid-term polls.

This comes against the backdrop of Leader of the Opposition and Lalu’s heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav reportedly holding two rounds of meetings with Nitish on Saturday and Sunday. Nitish even had a telephonic conversation with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Though what transpired between Nitish and Sonia was not made public, Congress’ Bihar in-charge and former Union Minister Bhakt Charan Das flew to Patna and held closed-door parleys with Congress leaders.

The Congress has 19 MLAs, while the Left 16. The RJD, which is the single largest party in the 243-member House, has 80 MLAs after four of the AIMIM MLAs recently joined Lalu’s outfit.

Aware that the RJD, Congress and HAM (Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustan Awam Morcha) have convened their legislature party meetings on Tuesday, the BJP summoned its top state leaders, including Union Minister Nityanand Rai, former minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Shah Nawaz Hussain and Nitin Navin (both ministers in the Nitish Cabinet) to New Delhi to take corrective measures, if needed.

Congress MLA Shakeel Ahmad Khan went a step further: “The nation today needs leaders like Nitish Kumar, whose secular credentials were never in doubt. Our fight against the BJP will get a boost if Nitish joins the Mahagatbandhan.”

Why Nitish is angry with BJP

Sources in the JD(U) said that recently an unsuccessful attempt was made by the saffron camp to experiment a Maharashtra-style of politics in Bihar by extending leeway to former Nitish aide RCP Singh and wean away a sizeable section of JD(U) legislators.

Also Read: Explained | Why is Nitish Kumar 'upset' with BJP?

Nitish, who recently skipped four important invitations from New Delhi, is already annoyed after BJP president J P Nadda recently averred that regional parties would soon become irrelevant. The Bihar CM was earlier miffed with the BJP when the latter, during its two-day conclave in Bihar on July 30-31, argued that it should contest 200 seats in Bihar and leave the remaining 43 seats for Nitish. The latest stand unnerved Nitish, who was not placated when Union Home Minister Amit Shah tried to assuage his ruffled feathers saying that “the 2025 Assembly elections in Bihar would be contested under the leadership of Nitish”.

“We are still in 2022. Why talk of 2024 or 2025, as of now?” wondered JD(U) national president Lallan Singh, reiterating that Nitish remained the tallest leader in Bihar despite JD(U) bagging merely 43 seats in 2020 Assembly polls.

(The author is a Patna-based journalist).