Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar broke his long-held silence Tuesday by announcing a timeline for his move to national politics. He made the revelation in a speech to legislators of the ruling Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in the Central Hall of the Bihar Legislative Assembly on the first day of the winter session.
“The Mahagathbandhan will contest the 2025 (Bihar) assembly polls under the leadership of (Deputy CM) Tejashwi Yadav,” Kumar said.
In his speech, the Janata Dal (United) chief had three messages — this would be his last tenure as Bihar CM, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav will be his political heir, and allies must not create confusion about him stepping down before the 2024 general election.
“I am not the PM candidate. I want to defeat the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). I have asked opposition parties to join hands. If they do not do so, what can I do,” he remarked.
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‘Nitish for PM’ & equation with Tejashwi
With speculation about him being a prospective candidate to lead a front against the BJP in 2024, Nitish seems to be on the lookout for an honourable exit from Bihar politics.
When Nitish parted ways with the BJP in August this year, the notion that he would ‘hand over the reins of the state to Tejashwi and move to Delhi to play a role in national politics’ had picked up currency among RJD leaders.
RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari had even publicly advised Nitish to “open an ashram in 2025” and hand over power to Tejashwi in Bihar — a statement that did not go down well with the JD(U).
Cut to Monday when Bihar RJD chief Jagdanand Singh endorsed Nitish for Prime Minister. “Just as the people of Gujarat want Narendra Modi to continue as PM, the people of Bihar want Nitish as PM,” Singh told ThePrint Tuesday.
A close reading of his statement suggests that there is growing impatience within the RJD over the fact that the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led party — with 79 MLAs — has to live with the post of chief minister remaining with the JD(U), which has only 45 MLAs in the 243-member assembly.
It is also no secret that Nitish has been openly promoting Tejashwi as his political heir since joining hands with the RJD earlier this year.
While stating that he had done a lot of work in Bihar, Nitish said during the inauguration of a dental college in Nalanda Monday: “But in the future, it is Tejashwi Yadav who will have to continue this work. I have promoted him and will take him to the next level.”
During that same event, Tejashwi, too declared himself “lucky” to be able to work and learn under Nitish.
These remarks mark a sea change in the Nitish-Tejashwi equation. Before the two came together in August this year, Tejashwi missed no opportunity to train his guns at Nitish, invoking an eye-for-an-eye response from the latter.
On this dramatic shift in the Bihar CM and RJD scion’s ties, a state minister from the JD(U) said on condition of anonymity: “The only thing which irks Nitish is RJD leaders trying to set a timeframe for his exit from Bihar. It both destabilises the alliance and creates concern within the JD(U). He (Nitish) stressed that Tejashwi had time on his side to prove himself before becoming the chief minister.”
Long road ahead for Nitish
Nitish Kumar, after delivering a jolt to the BJP in Bihar with the revival of the Mahagathbandhan, had initiated an effort to unite the opposition with gusto.
However, his efforts seem to have gone nowhere despite a series of meetings with top opposition leaders, including former Congress presidents Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Telangana CM KCR, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Newly-appointed president of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC), Akhilesh Pratap Singh, told ThePrint: “The PM candidate will be decided by our leader Rahul Gandhi and it is better to leave the issue for now and work on winning seats (in 2024).”
Speaking to reporters Sunday at the national executive meeting of the JD(U) in Patna, Nitish said that he had delegated the task of uniting the opposition to the party’s national president, Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh.
The statement, reflecting a hint of Nitish’s weariness, came days after his party lost the Kurhani assembly bypoll to the BJP. All seven allies part of the Mahagathbandhan had pitched in to ensure JD(U) candidate’s victory in the bye-election.
Mocking Nitish’s national ambitions, BJP’s Samrat Choudhary — Leader Of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council — told ThePrint: “A man who cannot win even a bypoll in his own state is aspiring to be the PM in 2024. It is the political joke of the year. He (Nitish) is fooling Tejashwi Yadav. He has a track record of doing the opposite of what he says.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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