Nitish’s aim is to tame Lalu, not align with BJP
LALU AND NITISH ARE UNLIKELY TO PART WAYS AT THIS POINT AS STAYING CLOSE IS A COMPULSION FOR THEIR POLITICAL SURVIVAL
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is unlikely to join hands with the BJP or pull the plug on the grand alliance but his recent political moves were cleverly crafted with the larger aim to tame Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad.
The raids by the income tax department to unearth the alleged “benami” properties linked to Lalu and his family did not come as a surprise to Kumar, who knew the repercussions of joining hands with the RJD chief.
When the grand alliance, comprising of Kumar’s JD(U), RJD and the Congress, was formed in Bihar a few months ahead of the assembly elections in OctoberNovember 2015, Lalu was already convicted in a graft case and even barred from contesting polls.
At that time, Kumar also faced uncomfortable questions regarding the possibility of the return of ‘jungle raj’, a term used to describe the RJD’s 15 year rule that was marred by frequent law and order problems.
Not only did Lalu help the grand alliance win the elections convincingly but also thwarted PM Narendra Modi’s attempts to establish a BJP rule in Bihar.
The friends-turned-foesturned-friends, who came together to stop the BJP’s victory march, are unlikely to part ways at this juncture when staying together is a compulsion for their political survival.
In the past few months, there has been intense speculation about the renewal of ties between the JD(U) and the BJP but Kumar has repeatedly dismissed such suggestions.
Probably, there are reasons to believe him on the issue. Firstly, there is no change in the position that the JD(U) took in 2013 when it decided to break its 17-year alliance with the BJP over the naming of Modi as the BJP’s PM candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Secondly, the BJP is not going to offer Kumar a role bigger than he is playing now.
On the other hand, if Kumar stays in the opposition camp there are chances that he might be projected as the PM candidate against Modi in the 2019 elections.
To send a strong message to the BJP, Kumar last month organised a mega function to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran centenary celebrations.
But at the same time, Kumar wants to keep intact his image as the anti-corruption crusader in Bihar and would like to disassociate himself from any controversy surrounding Lalu over the allegations of graft.
He has so far maintained a silence on the issue, merely saying that it was for the Centre to look into the accusations.
The larger aim here is to tame Lalu who remains a mass leader with the capacity and political sharpness to turn around adversity on its head.