By Harihar Swarup
Here’s something about Nitish and the number 7, Circular Road. As Chief Minister, he has been at 7, Circular Road, while using 1, Anna Marg, the official residence as his office. Now, after severing his five-year-old old alliance with the BJP and walking over to the Mahagathbandatan camp, many point that to a famous Delhi address— 7, Kalyan Marg (Racecourse Road), the official residence of Prime Minister—could be in his mind. After all, as he left NDA, Nitish Kumar, sent out dare, couched as prophesy, to the current occupant of 7, Lok Kalyan Marg: “the one who came to power in 2014, would he also return in 2024 to Lok Kalyan”.
Though there has been much talk about Nitish’s growing discomfort with an “overbearing” BJP, the stark message to have emerged out of Nitish’s U-turn is his rekindled national ambition. Though he hasn’t spoken openly about his PM hopes and continues to talk about “serving” Bihar, soon after taking oath as CM for the record eighth times. Nitish has urged all opposition parties to start preparing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. JD(U) sources hint that he may soon start touring other states to explore the chances of a broader national coalition to take on BJP in the 2024 elections.
JD(U) national spokesperson K C Tyagi said, “we have been getting very positive response (about Nitish Kumar walking out of NDA). Just the thought of Nitish Kumar playing an important role in national politics looks exciting. It is too early to say, but Nitish Kumar has recharged the opposition”.
Saying Mahagatbandhan, an alliance of seven parties that has the JD(U), RJD and Congress, besides other parties could “offer a template for a national opposition against the BJP”, another top JD(U) leader said, “Bihar has been the factory of political experiments and coalition. The BJP is now up against a tough opposition in Bihar. Who knows, there might be a strong opposition at the national level too”?
JD(U) sources point out that Nitish has nothing left to prove in state politics. He is credited with turning around Bihar’s fortunes after its long years of decay and for building a formidable social coalition built around women and extremely backward classes among OBCs. He is also state’s longest serving CM, having broken the record of 16 years held by Dr. Srikrishna Singh, Bihar’s first CM. As a close Nitish aide says now only posts of Deputy PM and PM are left to be achieved.
But those sceptical of a larger national role for Nitish or the possibility of him becoming the Opposition’s joint face against Modi point to his ‘paltu ram” image, the consummate politician who has swung between camps with the ease of a trapeze artiste.
Nitish, who joined hands with the BJP in 1995, first quit the NDA in 2013, in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, when it became clear that Narendra Modi would be the prime ministerial candidate. Though he did openly pitch himself for the post, he was evidently uneasy about Modi’s growing profile. When he finally parted ways with the BJP in 2013, it was on the grounds that NDA should have a leader with a “clean and secular imagine”.
Then in the run up to 2015 polls, Nitish did the unthinkable by joining hands with his old socialist fellow travellers and later foe, Lalu Prasad of RJD. In the elections that year, held two years after Nitish quit NDA, the coalition got 178 with the BJP reduced to 53 seats. Nitish had found his sweet revenge against Modi.
Barely two years later, in 2017, he snapped ties with the RJD citing his ‘no corruption’ plank as the CBI booked RJD leader and now his Deputy CM, Tejaswi Yadav, in the IRCTC case.
Now, five years since he left the Mahagathbandhan camp, Nitish is back, rallying the Opposition to prepare for the 2024 polls and ruing his time in the BJP. Another somersault, yet Nitish had managed a clean landing — displaying no unease about the contradictions inherent in his moves. The Nitish of 2022 had clearly travelled a fair distance from the Nitish of 2017.
For someone who would often talk fighting the “triple Cs” of crime, corruption and communalism as the guiding principles of his governance model, Nitish when asked if corruption was no longer an issue, didn’t bat an eyelid when he said Tejaswi by his side, “very much so. We cannot compromise on corruption”.
JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh a.k.a Lalan Singh too defended the party’s decision to return to the RJD despite its strident stand on corruption, saying “it has been five years since the IRCTC case. There is hardly any movement in it. It is nothing but an act of political vendetta.”
Nitish’s last stint in the Mahagathbandhan camp was anything but smooth. Only five months into the arrangement, the stress had started showing with the JD(U) accusing the RJD of interference. Nitish was no longer the last word in the matter of governance, as he had been in the NDA. While the BJP had no strong state leader to match Nitish’s charisma, here in the Mahagathbandhan, he had shared space and spotlight with Lalu and family. The RJD leader’s constant reference to Nitish as chotte bhai (younger brother) is also believed to have rankled Nitish.
All that, JD(U) sources insist, is behind them now. Nitish and Tejswi have reportedly worked out a working arrangement. Tejswi has already been granted Z-plus security, a perk Nitish’s deputies in the BJP— Sushil Kumar Modi, Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi – never enjoyed. (IPA Service)