© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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Journalism of Courage
Days after it appeared that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent Bihar visit has patched up the strained ties between the two ruling NDA coalition partners in the state, Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar may have got miffed with his senior ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), afresh.
Nitish seems to have registered his displeasure with the BJP by skipping three major back-to-back central meetings or events, including the swearing-in of the new President of India, Droupadi Murmu on Monday.
First, the Bihar CM kept himself away from the July 17 CMs’ meeting on matters concerning the national flag, which was convened by Union home minister Amit Shah. On July 22, Nitish also chose not to attend the farewell dinner event hosted by Prime Minister Modi for the outgoing President Ram Nath Kovind.
Sources said Nitish has been reportedly “upset” with Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha’s “inept handling” of the concluding function of the Assembly’s centenary celebrations, which was attended by PM Modi on July 12. While the PM and Nitish praised each other on the occasion, the latter was reportedly not pleased with Speaker Sinha, who is from the BJP, for not mentioning his name in the invitation card for the event.
The Bihar BJP seems to be intrigued by Nitish’s latest skipping bids, as it believes that PM Modi and Union minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan have already assuaged the CM’s perceived bruised sentiments by sending out clear signals that he will continue to lead the NDA in the state.
On Nitish’s move not to attend President Murmu’s swearing-in in the Central Hall of Parliament, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal told The Indian Express, “There is nothing to comment on the matter. It is his (CM’s) individual choice.”
The BJP’s national spokesperson Guru Prakash Paswan echoed Jaiswal’s line, saying “I do not think much can be read into the Bihar CM’s absence (at the Centre-held functions). It is a matter of personal choice. We would have definitely appreciated his presence there in Delhi today. But it would have little impact on our alliance”.
While JD (U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh refrained from making any comments on Nitish’s absence from major central events, the party’s spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said, “Our party has been duly represented by our MPs during the President’s oath-taking ceremony.”
Another JD(U) leader said that Nitish has his way of doing politics. “At times, even we do not know what he has been up to. But there are signs of displeasure that might crystalise in days to come”.
Since Pradhan’s visit to Patna late last month, during which he clarified that Nitish would continue to remain the CM until the 2025 Assembly polls, the Bihar BJP, taking cues from the central leadership, has halted its sniping on the JD(U) leadership. In the weeks prior to Pradhan’s public statement, the two allies had sparred over a host of issues raging from the Centre’s Agnipath scheme and the saffron party’s population control proposals, to the caste census and law and order issues. Significantly, Nitish also holds the home portfolio.
Gearing up for the 2024 general elections, the central BJP has called a meeting of its different morchas (wings) in Patna during July 30-31, which will see the participation of about 700 delegates. The meeting, to be attended by BJP national president JP Nadda and Amit Shah, would discuss the party’s plans for speeding up its social engineering drive. Nitish may also keep a close tab on its deliberations to recalibrate his party’s strategies.
