Patna: What is former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav up to? The question is doing the rounds in Bihar’s political circles as the jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Prasad’s son has turned the heat on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
It comes at a time when Kumar is on the defensive, with a section of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders demanding that the party go it alone in the assembly elections next year.
Sensing an opportunity in the seeming rift between the two coalition partners, RJD leaders such as Shivanand Tiwari sought to fish in the troubled waters, praising the chief minister and saying that he needs to “think about his future”.
Routed in the recent Lok Sabha elections and acutely feeling the absence of Lalu Prasad, RJD leaders’ hope for a revival hinges on the possibility of a repeat of the 2015 Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) with the Janata Dal (United) and the Congress. Tejashwi seems to have a different plan, though.
Also Read: Leaderless & desperate, RJD wants to ally with Nitish Kumar again to help reboot party
Uneasy alliance
It’s an open secret that the BJP and the JD(U) don’t share the best relationship despite being allies.
The JD(U) has stayed out of the new Modi council of ministers because it wasn’t happy about being accorded just one berth.
There has also been resentment in the BJP over JD(U) vice-president Prashant Kishor, a renowned poll strategist, joining hands with their arch rival Mamata Banerjee for the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections. And the JD(U) is not altogether pleased with the BJP’s plans to bring a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Bihar, with the law criminalising triple talaq also creating differences between the allies.
Last week, BJP MLC and former Union minister Sanjay Paswan said Nitish should cede the stage to a BJP chief minister and move to the Centre since people were “now voting for the Modi model”.
Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi soon tweeted in Nitish’s favour, saying he would remain the NDA’s captain in Bihar, but the cat was out of the bag — there were differences within the BJP over Nitish’s role in the alliance.
RJD leaders see ‘conspiracy’
That Tejashwi has trained his guns on Nitish just as the chief minister finds himself in this predicament has set off rumblings within the RJD too.
Senior leaders of the RJD are bewildered at Tejashwi’s attack on Nitish, whom they see as a likely ally for 2020.
On 13 September, senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said Nitish would be on the side of the Grand Alliance in 2020. The very next day, Tejashwi tweeted that Nitish was a leader without any policy, principle or thought. “He has betrayed us, parties of the Grand Alliance, and the BJP. The chair is his first and last motive,” he said.
आदरणीय नीतीश कुमार जी की कोई नीति, सिद्धांत और विचारधारा नहीं है। हमेशा ज़ुबानी ख़र्च में कहते रहे कि हम ट्रिपल तलाक़ और 370 का विरोध करेंगे लेकिन संसद में वोटिंग के समय BJP की मदद करी। उन्होंने सदा हमें, गठबंधन दलों और BJP को धोखा दिया है। कुर्सी ही उनका प्रथम और अंतिम विचार है।
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) 14 September 2019
He didn’t stop there. The next tweet said Nitish did not have the strength to contest polls alone.
माननीय नीतीश कुमार जी की अपनी कोई ताक़त नहीं। आजतक ना कभी अकेले चुनाव लड़ा और ना 15 वर्ष CM रहने के बावजूद भी अकेले लड़ने की क्षमता।
बिहार के प्रत्येक दल के साथ समय-समय पर उन्होंने गठबंधन किया है और सभी के साथ हमेशा उन्होंने ही गठबंधन तोड़ विश्वासघात किया है और ऐसा करते रहेंगे।
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) 14 September 2019
The attack has left several RJD leaders fuming. “I will continue to speak in favour of what I feel is good for the party,” Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told ThePrint. “This is political immaturity.”
Another leader added, “Despite his political immaturity, he must be knowing that if the present NDA remains intact, the RJD and other parties will be practically wiped out.”
Dissident RJD MLA Maheshwar Yadav alleged that Tejashwi was playing into the hands of the BJP.
“He has joined the Giriraj (Union minister Giriraj Singh, who is a known baiter of Nitish Kumar) faction of the BJP,” Yadav said, adding that 80 per cent of RJD MLAs were against the continuation of Tejashwi as a leader in the assembly.
Such is the level of disaffection within the party that a conspiracy theory has begun to take root as well.
“You have to just follow the IRCTC hotel case going on in Delhi,” said an RJD MLA, referring to an alleged scam dating back to Lalu’s tenure as railway minister where he is accused of irregularities in the grant of plum contracts to a private player.
“For a high-profile case like this, in which Lalu, Rabri and Tejashwi are chargesheeted by the Enforcement Directorate, the next hearing is in December,” the MLA added, “There is no urgency shown by the ED to speed up the case.”
Some party leaders hint that there is a deal between Tejashwi and the BJP that if the case is slowed down, the RJD will not ally with Nitish if he walks out of the NDA.
Also Read: Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) needs to make space for BJP to rule Bihar alone
Lonely Nitish
The Chief Minister of Bihar for nearly 15 years, Nitish finds himself increasingly isolated, and out of options as far as quitting the NDA is concerned.
Last week, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan made it crystal clear that his loyalty lies with the BJP.
His track record shows that he cannot win polls without an alliance, be it with the RJD or the BJP: In the 1995 assembly polls, he won just seven of then united Bihar’s 324 seats.
In 2014, he won just two of the 40 Lok Sabha seats.
Meanwhile, in the 2015 assembly polls fought with the RJD and the Congress, the JD(U) won 71 of the 101 seats it contested. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, contested with the BJP, the JD(U) won 16 of its 17 seats, with the NDA together sweeping 39 of the state’s 40 seats.
Without the RJD and even Ram Vilas Paswan, who has the ability to transfer the Dalit vote to the JD(U), Nitish may not be a serious contender for power in the 2020 polls.
The Congress in Bihar has virtually no social base and itself largely depends on the RJD and its Muslim-Yadav combine. Without an option, Nitish may not have a bargaining chip to negotiate seats with the BJP.
“Nitish will have to remain in the NDA the way Narendra Modi and Amit Shah would want him to remain,” said a JD(U) leader. “It is a happy situation for leaders like Sanjay Paswan.”
Also Read: Why senior BJP leader Sushil Modi is under attack from his own partymen in Bihar
Nitish Kumar already was tested by the last grand alliance made. In which he reaped the crop and left the alliance without proper reasons. If the allegations were reasons then what he is doing in the Srijan and so many scams raining in the JDU itself.
Tejaswi Yadav don’t you feel ashamed while playing secretly in the hands of BJP so that cases against ur father & u are setteled down . We the SC’s & Backward class people saw a leader in you who could stand & speak for us but here you are only bringing us shame .There is still time that u mend ur ways or else be ready to be eaten by BJP