Friday, 17 May, 2024
The JDU) Supremo and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar decided to skip the important Niti Ayog meeting of all chief ministers
Things are rapidly changing and evolving in the political game o thrones being played out in Bihar. The JDU) Supremo and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar decided to skip the important Niti Ayog meeting of all chief ministers organised on August 7, 2022 that was charged by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The only other chief minister to skip the meet was Telengana chief minister K. C. Rao who is openly daggers drawn with the BJP and Narendra Modi. Even Mamata Bannerjee, who had made it almost a habit to skip meetings with the Prime Minister attended the Niti Ayog meet. Political circles are agog with talk of Nitish Kumar dumping the BJP yet again. R. C. P Singh, once a blue eyed boy of Nitish Kumar has quit the JDU) after being “asked to explain” the property acquisitions by his family. He is openly saying that the JD(U) has no future. Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar has called an urgent meeting of party MPs and MLAs on August 8 even as many JD(U) leaders openly attack the BJP.
Back in 2013, when Narendra Modi became the BJP candidate for the post of Prime Minister, Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP and eventually joined hands with his arch enemy Lalu Yadav and RJD to win a big victory in the assembly elections of 2015. He dumped the RJD, ostensibly because of “corruption” and joined hands again with the BJP. As the accompanying first chart shows, Nitish Kumar and his party have never been in a position to win elections on their own. Their best performance in terms of vote share was 22.57% in 2010 when the popularity of “Susashan Babu” Nitish Kumar was at its peak. Compared to Nitish Kumar, Lalu Yadav has actually won state elections on his own with the RJD getting close to a majority even in 2000 when his practically illiterate wife Rabri Devi was the sitting chief minister.
If you look at the second chart, it is clear that the best days for the JD(U) seem to be over. The peak was in 2010 when the immensely popular Nitish Kumar and his party won 115 seats, not very far from the majority mark. In 2015, he remained the chief minister even though the then ally RJD won more seats. But he was compelled to install the youngest son of Lalu, Tejasvi Yadav as the deputy chef minister. In the 2020 assembly elections, the JD(U) was far, far behind the BJP by winning just 43 seats. Though Nitish Kumar remained the chief minister, there was no doubt the JD(U) was very much the junior partner.
Nitish Kumar might join hands with the RJD all over again, just as he did after 2013. But that will give JD(U) a short term breather. Unlike other regional parties, JD(U) has no dynastic successor to take over after Nitish Kumar. In such a scenario, the long term prospects of the JDU) could resemble that of another regional party the Asom Gana Parshad. For a decade and half, it looked like the natural ruling party of Assam.now, it is a marginal player in Assam politics.
