Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) head and jailed former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav seems to be exploring the option of reviving the alliance with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) after sensing a chink in the ruling coalition over the ‘snoop’ order on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) office-bearers.
Last week, Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav and senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari separately met the party chief at a Ranchi jail, in the wake of the party’s humiliating defeat in the general elections this year. Both signalled the latter’s willingness to revive the ‘Mahagathbandhan’.
After his first meeting with father Lalu since the poll results, Tejashwi told mediapersons in Ranchi, “We will fight the next assembly polls with the Grand Alliance and form the government.”
However, Tejashwi didn’t clarify whether the alliance he was talking about meant the one that fought the 2015 assembly elections — when ruling JD(U) was also a part of it — or the one that came up earlier this year, when smaller parties joined the RJD and the Congress. After the assembly polls in the state, the JD(U) mended ties with old ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and left the Grand Alliance.
Tiwari was more forthcoming. “Lalu ji is keeping a close watch over the developments arising out of the (RSS snooping) issue. The manner in which BJP leaders, particularly Union minister Giriraj Singh, have openly criticised and arm twisted Nitish is deplorable,” Tiwari told ThePrint.
He was, however, candid to admit that RJD will come in the picture only only after Nitish and BJP go separate ways.
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Opening for RJD?
The speculation about the rift in the ruling coalition gained currency last week after Union minister Giriraj Singh criticised the Nitish Kumar government following revelations that the Special Branch of the state police had given instructions in May to collect details of the RSS functionaries in Bihar.
“The government does not snoop on friends. If the police had wanted information on RSS leaders, they could have asked deputy CM (and BJP leader) Sushil Kumar Modi,” Singh told reporters in Patna last week.
The mistrust between BJP and JD(U) became pronounced so quickly that it gave speculations that Nitish and BJP would part ways. The Bihar deputy chief minister, however, sought to clear the air Monday while speaking in the state assembly as he tabled the appropriations bill for the annual state budget.
“You should have no doubts that we will be fighting the assembly polls next year together and Nitish Kumar will be our leader. Who will join a sinking ship,” Modi said in a jibe at RJD.
RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui didn’t buy this. “The very fact that Modi felt it necessary to make such a remark on a budgetary bill indicates that not everything is going smoothly for the NDA,” he told ThePrint.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited Siddiqui’s residence in Darbhanga’s Rupaspur area.
JD(U) leaders, however, remained evasive on the strained relationship with allies. “Politics is the game of unknown possibilities. But right now there is nothing to worry about,” Shravan Kumar, Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Nitish Kumar’s close confidant, told ThePrint.
Highly unlikely
Local political circles didn’t mince their words and fell just short of calling RJD’s hope about the resurrection of the Grand Alliance with Nitish Kumar as ‘day-dreaming’.
Former MP Ranjan Prasad Yadav, who has been close to both Lalu and Nitish in the past, said, “The recreation of the Grand Alliance in Bihar is a near impossible event. Alliances are formed on political ground realities. Right now RJD has nothing to offer to Nitish Kumar and is struggling to retain its base votes. It is a demoralised force.
“On the other hand BJP has a lot to offer — mass support and resources having a national presence. Only a desperate politician will ally with RJD. I do not see any such desperate situation for Nitish Kumar now.”
Just over two months ago, the NDA swept 39 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats with almost a 28 per cent vote advantage over RJD and its allies. And with BJP accepting Nitish’s leadership in the 2020 assembly polls, his continuation as CM is almost assured.
Moreover, despite not joining the Modi government, a “favourable government” at the Centre has worked in Nitish’s favour. He has admitted that the Modi government spent Rs 50,000 crore on just Bihar’s roads. Also, other projects like the Patna Metro have started.
Further, Nitish’s flip flop between BJP and Lalu has left him with little manoeuvring space.
In view of these factors, even RJD leaders privately admit that it will be a political miracle if Nitish joins hands with them again.
Also read: Tejashwi Yadav, forever middle-order batsman, is forced to open for RJD in Lalu’s absence
Nitish is an opportunist. He cannot be trusted.