Successor hope dashed with Nitish picking Tejashwi, Kushwaha steps up his gameplan

In a bid to smoothen his ruffled feathers, the JD(U) may offer Kushwaha a ministerial berth in the Nitish Cabinet. Though there has been talks of Kushwaha being offered even the Deputy CM’s post, the RJD would resist any such move of its junior partner cornering the two top posts. Nitish has himself scotched such speculation, saying there will not be two Deputy CMs in the state.

While Kushwaha has invited some BJP leaders along with his Grand Alliance colleagues to his get-together event in Patna on January 14 to mark Makar Sankranti, sources told The Indian Express that he has opened his channel of communication to his erstwhile ally BJP by “recently meeting a central BJP leader” as he apparently does not foresee “much scope of his own growth in the JD(U)”.

Kushwaha had reportedly met Nitish and later senior JD(U) MP Bashistha Narain Singh a fortnight ago, telling them that there was no need for Tejashwi’s “early projection” as the future CM as it had “started demotivating JD(U)’s core constituency” of non-Yadav OBCs, Koeris and Kurmis, which make up about 10 per cent of Bihar’s population. Kushwaha also tried to impress upon the CM that the liquor ban law had been adversely affecting the JD(U)’s support base in the state. Nitish gave him a patient hearing but did not give him assurances of any follow-up action.

JD(U) sources, however,  indicated that Kushwaha could be at best offered a minister berth as and when Nitish undertakes his Cabinet expansion. “This has gained ground with Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh demanding more ministerial berths for his party in the upcoming Cabinet expansion. The party may not be able to hold back Kushwaha for a long time. He has asked CM some tough questions on the reasons for the party’s loss in two of the last three bypolls, for which we don’t have answers as yet,” said a JD(U) source.

On his part, Kushwaha told The Indian Express: “As for my invitation to leaders from several parties for Makar Sankranti lunch, it is nothing new. Even Tejashwi Yadav has invited BJP leaders. I am inviting several leaders, some of them could be from BJP.” Asked about his recent meeting with a senior BJP leader, he said: “Such a news has no basis”. He also downplayed questions on being offered a ministerial berth by his party.

Though several Bihar BJP leaders did not appear to be aware of Kushwaha’s bid to warm up to the saffron camp, they welcomed the idea of his inclusion in the NDA, maintaining that it would severely dent Nitish’s core non-Yadav vote base. State BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal, however, said: “I don’t have any such information.”