Superior saffron plan outfoxes grand alliance
Curtains fell on the grand alliance on Wednesday with Nitish Kumar resigning as Bihar Chief Minister.
The Grand Alliance, led by RJD, Congress and other secular parties, was yet again outfoxed by a superior saffron game plan. With the RJD’s 81 MLAs, Congress’ 27 and allies’ three legislators, the Grand Alliance is nowhere near the simple majority.
The drama began to unfold at around 7.30 pm when Mr Kumar reached the Governor’s residence and put in his papers. The decision to quit was apparently over “probity in office,” as Mr Kumar wanted the deputy Chief Minister, Tejaswi Yadav, to step down following corruption charges.
The deputy Chief Minister, his father and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had made it clear that Tejaswi “will not step down.” Mr Kumar had also met Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi last week to work out a solution. The Nitish camp claimed that the meeting between Mr Kumar and Mr Gandhi had failed to “evoke any result” and that the Chief Minister was “disillusioned.”
“I met Bihar Governor and submitted my resignation. I have resigned because it was getting tough for me to work as the Chief Minister,” the Bihar Chief Minister said. He said that while he had not asked anyone, including Tejaswi Yadav, to resign, he said, “I told Lalu Yadav and Tejaswi that they must explain the charges publicly which they kept dodging”.
As Mr Kumar resigned, the BJP in the national capital swung into action and messages were sent to the state unit to rush to the Governor before the Opposition could do so.
Sushil Modi met state legislators and party functionaries and declared the BJP’s support for Mr Kumar. Mr Kumar’s decision to return to NDA fold is being viewed a move to back and be with the winning side.
With the Opposition in a complete disarray and indications that NDA-led by Mr Modi is all set to the return to power in 2019 general elections, Mr Kumar was in no mood to stick to the “losing side,” a JD(U) leader said.
Mr Kumar's decision to ally with the saffronites is expected to have minor tremors within the JD(U) as senior leader Sharad Yadav had made it clear that he would “quit” the party if the chief minister crossed over to the BJP.
While Mr Kumar’s switch could be a win-win situation for the BJP, the JD(U) could be in a fix during the 2019 general elections if Muslims and Yadavs remain loyal to RJD chief Lalu Yadav.