Amid talk of rift with BJP, Nitish calls meeting of JD(U) legislators

All is not well between coalition partners BJP and JD(U) in Bihar if the latest developments are taken into consideration.

While Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed his disgruntlement with the BJP by remaining absent at Sunday’s NITI Ayog meeting presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he has called a meeting of all JD(U) MLAs and MPs on Tuesday to discuss the future course of action.

The announcement came hours after JD(U) clarified that it will not join the Union council of ministers again.

Also read: Souring BJP-JD(U) ties might lead to realignments in Bihar politics

Party’s national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan, who made the announcement at a press conference, however, dismissed speculations about the rift between the JD(U) and the BJP.

He also refused to answer why Kumar was absent at the NITI Ayog meeting, with the terse remark “you should ask the chief minister.”

While there has been no official word on the reason behind Kumar’s absence, sources close to him said he has excused himself citing post-COVID debility. The septuagenarian, who had tested positive on July 25, interestingly, attended a couple of functions in Patna during the day. At one of these, organized on the occasion of national handloom day, he even shared the dais with his cabinet colleagues from the BJP — industries minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad.

Lalan, seen as a frontrunner by some for a ministerial berth from the JD(U) after RCP Singh’s resignation, clarified that the party wasn’t willing to have any representative in the Union Council of ministers.

“We had decided in 2019, after the Lok Sabha polls, not to join the government at the Centre. We stick to that stand,” he said.

“The decision not to join the Union government was taken by our leader Nitish Kumar who was then also the party’s national president,” said Lalan.

When pointed out that RCP became a minister in 2021, Lalan shot back, “You should ask him (RCP) who was the national president at that time. He did not take anybody in the loop while arriving at the decision.”

The JD(U) leader also sought to make light of the exit from the party of RCP Singh, who resigned from the Union cabinet recently after being denied another Rajya Sabha term.

“He may have left the party only yesterday. But for long his body was in the party and soul elsewhere,” Lalan said.

The JD(U) national president, however, advised RCP, his predecessor, to apply himself to “wherever his heart mind and soul lie, without engaging in diatribe against Nitish Kumar”.

“Nitish Kumar is the maalik (lord) of the JD(U). People like RCP or I get elected as national president because of his benediction. But we must remember that we are just caretakers,” said Lalan.

RCP Singh, who was perceived to have become too close to BJP for the JD(U)s comfort, quit the party on Saturday.

Also read: Bihar’s young leaders get ready for rigours of state politics

Singh, a former IAS officer, had accepted a cabinet post last year without consulting Kumar.

He left the party after JD(U) refused him a Rajya Sabha berth.

“There is a conspiracy against me because I’d become union minister…I’ll just say that there is no cure to jealousy. Nitish Kumar will not become Prime Minister in any of his seven lives,” Singh told reporters.

Political overhaul on the cards?

If rumours are to be believed, the opposition RJD has asked its MLAs to remain in Patna for the next few days, triggering speculations in a section of the media that the state is set to witness a momentous political development.

Lalan asserted that the party’s ties with the BJP were not under stress and cited the JD(U)s support for NDA candidates in the recent elections for President and Vice President as proof.

“Our Rajya Sabha MP Basishtha Narayan Singh voted by reaching the polling centre in a wheelchair. There cannot be a stronger demonstration of our commitment to the BJP-led NDA,” said the JD(U) chief.

He, however, defended a statement he made last week blaming a conspiracy for the JD(U)’s poor show in the 2020 assembly polls and reacting to BJP’s promise of contesting the next Lok Sabha and Assembly elections under Nitish Kumar’s leadership with a cryptic remark ‘kal kisne dekha hai’ (who has seen tomorrow).

The JD(U) national president said, “How can I say with assurance anything about 2024 or 2025. I cannot say whether I will stay alive tomorrow.”

Asked about the conspiracy, he referred to Chirag model, an allusion to the then LJP chief’s rebellion, and claimed the model was again at work, and “we will reveal more about it at a later stage.”

The JD(U) chief, whose party is the largest ally of the BJP, however, refused to find fault with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav taking out a march in protest against price rise and unemployment and blaming the situation on Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

“Prices are indeed rising and affecting the common people. If the opposition is taking out a protest, why would we oppose it,” he asked.

He refused to comment on allegations of political vendetta that have followed arrest of Bhola Yadav, a close aide of Lalu Prasad, by the CBI in connection with a land for jobs scam. “I am not a spokesman of the investigating agencies. I cannot comment on merits or demerits of the cases.”

(With inputs from agencies)