JD(U)-RJD alliance comes under strain

Two different exposes done by two TV news channels have shown Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal in poor light, putting in jeopardy the RJD-Janata Dal (United) alliance in Bihar that is in the saddle. In an audio clip of Lalu Yadav’s alleged conversation with jailed mafia don Mohammad Shahabuddin aired on Republic TV’s day of launch, Shahabuddin is heard asking Yadav to remove Siwan superintendent of police Saurabh Kumar Shah. “Khatam hai bhai aap ka SP… remove them all… they’ll start a riot. (Your SP is useless… remove all of them… they will start a riot.).” Amid a big hue and cry by the channel for State Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to snap his party’s coalition link with RJD, the JD (U) has reacted cautiously by promising that the “Bihar government will investigate the purported conversation.” The leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Sushil Modi, has said Lalu Yadav has been promoting and patronising criminals as the chief minister has turned a blind eye to the illegal activities of his alliance partner. The BJP whose leader Sushil Modi is, is baying for Lalu’s head, demanding that Nitish Kumar act against his alliance partner the RJD. The political climate in politics-charged Bihar is turning murkier and murkier.

Another expose done by ETV-Bihar, a sister channel of CNNIBN, has alleged that some ministers in the Nitish Kumar-led government have been renting out their official bungalows for private functions, including marriage parties for a huge sum of money. The sprawling bungalow of the state’s minority affairs minister Abdul Ghafoor, who is an MLA of RJD and also at the official bungalow of Bihar’s art and culture minister Shivchandra Ram, who is also an MLA from the same party, are allegedly being used for such purposes, says the report. The cost of space for a day exceeds Rs 2.5 lakh and other facilities are available for an extra charge, according to the report. The two investigative reports have put the ball in Nitish Kumar’s court because in both cases it is the RJD that is in the dock. Relations between the RJD and the JD (U) have been strained for some time and it would interesting to see what ultimately comes out of the two alleged scandals. With the presidential elections slated for July, the BJP has high stakes in the whole affair because if Nitish Kumar were to break with the Opposition, the BJP candidate’s election would be clinched, considering that its shortfall is marginal.