Bihar Elections: Is Nitish Kumar’s ‘Antaratma’ Waking up to Save JD-U?

Patna: Political developments unfurling one after another in the past 24 hours in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar suggest that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is also Janata Dal-United president, is not ready to compromise on seats and is set to assert as “big brother” in the alliance. This appears contrary to the game plan of NDA’s major ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of next month’s Assembly polls.

Sensing a BJP “political design” to cut him to size, Nitish Kumar appears to have decided to hit back. It seems his ‘antaratma’ (conscience) has finally woken up to save his party, the JD-U, which is facing growing discontent following the seat-sharing arrangements in NDA announced two days ago.

Amid reports of an “unhappy” Chief Minister, NDA was reportedly forced to postpone the release of a list of all its candidates under the seat-sharing arrangement till Monday evening. The BJP has also started damage control to project that “all is well” with the alliance.
As per reports in various quarters, Nitish Kumar, who is also JD-U president, has “strongly objected” to the seat sharing arrangement. "Nitish Kumar is not happy and he made it clear to ally BJP to first clear the seats allotted to allies before announcing it", a JD-U leader told this reporter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also reportedly telephoned Kumar on Monday/ Tuesday morning in connection with the seat-sharing after his “unhappiness”. 

“On Monday, when a Bihar minister Ratnesh Sada, a Dalit, was extremely upset after his sitting seat was given to an ally LJP(R) of Union minister Chirag Paswan under NDA’s seat- sharing formula, he approached Manish Verma, a senior JD-U leader, who facilitated his meeting with Nitish Kumar. Sada cried before Nitish and informed him that not only his sitting seat but other sitting seats of the party were given to LJP(R) and BJP. This shocked Nitish so much that he called two senior party leaders asking them to let him know in detail about how this happened”, another JD-U leader said.

Verma is an IAS-turned-politician, who belongs to Nitish’s caste, Kurmi, a powerful OBC (Other backward Classes) community, and a native of Nalanda, the Chief Minister’s home district.

According to sources in JD-U, an angry Nitish, late night on Monday, called Bihar minister Vijayendra Yadav, senior most party leader, and enquired about how party interests were compromised in seat-sharing. Yadav reportedly informed him that neither was he consulted nor his views taken in this regard by party working president Sanjay Jha, considered close to the top BJP leadership. Jha, a JD-U Rajya Sabha MP, has emerged as “very powerful” leader in the party after Nitish, it is said.

Sources said that Nitish Kumar had directed Jha to consult Yadav and other senior leaders on seat sharing and candidate selection.

Similarly, Union Minister Lalan Singh, former JD-U president, known to be the “closest” leader to Nitish Kumar, also reportedly informed the Chief Minister on Monday that he was not involved in the finalisation of seat sharing in the NDA, said party sources.

“After knowing that neither Yadav nor Singh have nothing to do with it (seat sharing), an angry Nitish reportedly told them that he was betrayed by someone who was given a major responsibility. He acted like a Jaichand (a king who is historically branded as traitor), Nitish said while referring to Jha”, another JD-U leader said.

On Tuesday afternoon, Nitish Kumar called an emergency party meeting of top JD-U leaders at his residence to discuss the situation.

According to sources in JD-U, Nitish Kumar sent a clear message to BJP that he was not happy over the seat sharing arrangement saying that his party will not sacrifice its traditional seats and will contest at least one seat more than BJP.

Political observers said that this is something the BJP never expected, as it was sure to manage Nitish’s JD-U using a few leaders considered close to him and were reportedly controlling the party amid reports of his deteriorating mental health. This coterie is regarded as “pro-BJP” in the “divided” JD-U.
 

As per reports, Nitish Kumar has expressed strong reservations over extra seats given to Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) of Union Minister Chirag Paswan, who was a spoiler for JD-U in the 2020 Assembly polls. JD-U performed badly in the polls when its seats came down to only 43.

Meanwhile, some JD-U leaders have alleged that a “powerful coterie” is playing as agents of BJP to sideline Nitish Kumar and JD-U via by seat sharing and naming wrong candidates.

Sources in JD-U further said that Nitish Kumar was also not comfortable after it was decided that BJP and JD-U would contest 101 seats each. This means that both are equal and there is no “big brother” in NDA.

In the past 20 years, from 2005, in election after election, the JD-U has played ‘big brother’ by contesting more seats than BJP in Bihar. This is first time in the past two decades that it will contest the lowest number of seats.

According to sources close to two NDA allies -- Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Party and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha -- both were upset after LJP(R) of Chirag Paswan was allotted 29 seats. This is widely regarded as main cause of discontent within NDA.
 
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Monday targeted JD-U over its ‘strike rate’, which is being seen as an expression of his strong reservations on allotting equal seats to BJP and JD-U this time.

According to the NDA’s seat sharing arrangements, BJP and JD-U will contest 101 seats each, LJP(R) of Chirag Paswan will contest 29 seats and HAM and RLM will contest six seats each.

Although the BJP top leadership seems hesitant to declare Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate of the ruling NDA, it realises that his face is a must for the saffron party to win this crucial election.

Sensing this compulsion, top BJP leaders, including Modi and Shah, have repeatedly stated that NDA would go to polls under the leadership of Kumar. Both understand the value of Kumar as the chief ministerial face despite his reported deteriorating mental health and drastic fall in popularity, as per some pre-poll surveys in the past six months.

This will be the first time in the past two-and-half decades that BJP seems reluctant to announce Kumar as NDA’s chief ministerial face.