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The Janata Dal (United), which has been displaying bonhomie towards RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav lately, seems to have suffered a jolt by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s move to lodge a fresh corruption case against RJD president and ex-chief minister Lalu Prasad and three other members of his family in an alleged “land for railway jobs” scam.
JD(U) supremo and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who had recently met Tejashwi to strategise on how to pile pressure on the BJP on the caste census issue, may well have to rethink his strategy vis-a-vis his ally BJP now.
In the Nitish-led ruling coalition, the JD(U) is a junior partner with 45 MLAs as compared to the BJP’s 77. In the face of rising pressure from the BJP, the JD(U) was warming up to the principal Opposition RJD in a bid to keep the saffron party in check.
The BJP has turned up the heat on the JD(U) dispensation, with several party leaders targeting Nitish. The BJP’s Ujiyarpur MP and Union minister of state for home, Nityanand Rai, has also engaged in a lunch-and-dinner diplomacy in recent days in a bid to position himself before throwing his hat into the ring as the BJP’s CM face.
With the Lalu family now facing a fresh corruption case in which 16 people are named, the JD (U) cannot afford to continue showing its warmth towards Leader of Opposition Tejashwi. The point remains that Nitish had parted ways with the “Grand Alliance” government, which included the RJD as a lead player, in 2017 soon after Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi and Tejashwi were booked in an alleged IRCTC scam following the CBI’s raids in various places.
The CBI’s fresh move against Lalu and his family has been described by the RJD as “political vendetta of the worst order”. Given Nitish’s principle of “never compromising with triple Cs — crime, corruption and communalism”, it would not be possible for him to build bridges with them now.
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tewari said, “The timing of the CBI raids smacks of political vendetta. Whenever there has been any hint of RJD and JD(U) getting closer, BJP resorts to such tactics.”
The JD(U), which held an emergency meeting Friday of its ministers and MLAs who were present in Patna, has asked its leaders to refrain from commenting on the CBI action or on the Lalu family.
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The JD(U) might have rarely witnessed such a see-saw in its position as it did in last couple of years with the BJP asserting its position in the ruling alliance as the senior partner. Although the BJP may want Nitish to continue as the CM at least till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the JD(U) could hardly afford to take its eye off the glaring fact regarding its political constraints and lack of options. So, keeping his alliance with the BJP going may well be Hobson’s choice for Nitish.
As regards its stand on the caste census issue, the JD (U) is likely to put it on the back-burner for now.
