Alliance peace at risk as NDA partners tussle in Bihar, Maharashtra ahead of polls

Despite the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s assertions that there is complete coordination between all its alliance partners, repeated tussles in NDA-ruled states prove that its house is not in order.

While the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has been holding protests in various parts of Maharashtra against the collapse of the statue of Shivaji Maharaj in Sindhudurg, the NDA in Bihar is troubled by the BJP's recent demand to change the name of Bakhtiyarpur.

The tussle between BJP and its NDA partners in Maharashtra and Bihar also comes at a time when preparations are in full swing for Assembly polls in both states. While Assembly polls in Maharashtra may take place in November or December this year, the same in Bihar is due in November 2025.

BJP’s demand to rename Bihar CM’s birthplace

The tiff between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's BJP and Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) started after a member of his cabinet, Niraj Kumar Singh, demanded the name of Bakhtiyarpur be changed. Bakhtiyarpur, Nitish Kumar’s birthplace and where he spent his early days, has sentimental value for the Bihar chief minister.

It has been a longstanding demand of the BJP leadership in Bihar to change the town’s name as they believe it has been named after Turko-Afghan invader Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji.

Bakhtiyarpur name won’t change, says JD(U)

“There has been no decision to change the name of Bakhtiyarpur, and there is no controversy about it either. I would also like to clarify that the town was not named after Bakhtiyar Khilji. There is no historical evidence to suggest that Bakhtiyar Khilji visited this place. I am only stating historical facts,” Neeraj Kumar, senior leader and spokesperson of JD(U), told The Federal.

Union minister and senior BJP leader, Giriraj Singh, who is at the forefront of this demand, has time and again advocated a name change for the town.

Tip of the iceberg of troubles

Even though national leaders both from the BJP and JD(U) maintain that such issues will not impact the alliance, in reality, the name change issue is just the tip of the iceberg.

The recent decision of the Union government to set up a parliamentary committee to study The Waqf Amendment Bill in greater detail was taken after the JD(U) leadership used its influence to convince the BJP leadership to send the Bill for parliamentary scrutiny. The JD(U) leadership also has differences over the BJP’s resolve to fulfil its election promise to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country.

KC Tyagi’s stepdown

That the problems between the NDA partners have aggravated became evident when veteran JD(U) leader and its national spokesperson KC Tyagi, recently resigned from his post. While Tyagi has officially maintained that he took this decision for personal reasons, it is said a section within the BJP was annoyed with Tyagi’s recent statements on issues related to the Waqf Bill, UCC and the ongoing war in Gaza.

“We are surprised that KC Tyagi is no longer the spokesperson of the party. It is sad that he has to resign from the post. He was one of the most unbiased and balanced spokesperson of the party. It seems the decision was taken because of the recent statements by Tyagi on some of the crucial issues. The impact of the statements made by Tyagi was such that when he would issue a statement in Delhi, we used to consider it as the official stand of JD(U) in Bihar. It is possible that some of the statements may have annoyed the NDA leadership,” a senior legislator of JD(U) told The Federal.

Cracks in NDA over Shivaji statue collapse?

Meanwhile, the decision of Ajit Pawar, whose faction of NCP is in an alliance with the BJP and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, to hold silent protests against the collapse of a statue of Shivaji Maharaj in Sindhudurg, is likely to create differences within the NDA.

Even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologised for the statue's collapse, the NCP has been holding state-wide protests demanding action against those responsible. While opposition parties are already trying to make it an election issue, the NCP’s protest is only strengthening their demands.

'Protest not against govt'

“We are protesting against the collapse of the statue of Shivaji Maharaj. The protest is not against the government because it is the NDA which is in power in Maharashtra, but we are protesting because we want action against those people responsible for the collapse of the statue. We are protesting so that action is taken against those who are responsible for the collapse of the statue. We also want to know how a statue that was built recently can collapse so soon,” Manohar Gowardhan Chandrikapure, a senior legislator of NCP, told The Federal.

BJP getting a taste of coalition politics: Analysts

Political analysts believe that the ruling BJP is getting a taste of coalition politics as more NDA partners assert themselves on different issues related to national and state level concerns.

“We are witnessing a case of typical coalition politics. We have been used to single-party dominance for the past 10 years, but it has changed now, and NDA partners are asserting themselves. The BJP leadership has taken a tactical retreat for now and is agreeing to the demands of the NDA partners. The outcome of the elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi and Bihar will further change the dynamics within NDA. If BJP does well in these elections then it will again try to dominate within NDA, otherwise the NDA partners will further assert themselves,” Amit Dholakia, political science professor at Vadodara University, told The Federal.