TNB, Patna 18, March. The politics may take a new turn in Bihar as rumors are doing the round that there is possibility of realignment between Janta Dal United and Rashtriya Janta Dal. Three recent developments have added fuel to this speculation.
First, a closed door meeting took place between leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav and chief minister Nitish Kumar. In political circle, this meeting has created a buzz that something is cooking between the two leaders.
Then, the passage of unanimous resolution against National Register for Citizens (NRC) and new National Population Register (NPR) in legislative assembly gave credence to the theory. Interestingly, Bihar becomes the first National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ruling state to pass resolutions against NRC and NPR. This has not gone down well with Bhartiya Janta Party, the ruling alliance partner. Few state BJP leaders, including agriculture minister and Gaya MLA Perm Kumar resented the passing of resolution.
Much to the BJP’s surprise, a resolution for caste based census was also passed in the Bihar assembly. This was a long standing demand of opposition.
Political analysts are of the view that there are two possibilities of the realignment: One, there may be once again JDU and RJD coming together and forming grand alliance similar to 2015 assembly election.
Second, Nitish may contest the election staying in NDA. it is premature to say as this scenario may emerge after poll. Suppose if BJP win more seats and JDU less, the saffron party may claim the CM’s post. In this situation to retain the chair, Nitish may switch over to grand alliance. For example, what happened in Maharashtra: BJP and Shiv Sena fought the election together but Shiv Sena formed an alliance with Congress and Nationalist Congress party on condition that it will hold the chief ministerial ship.
According to a Bihar watcher, this scenario may be possible as many NDA voters are not inclined to vote for Nitish Kumar this time, but, their support for BJP is intact. So constituencies where BJP will put up candidate their winning possibility will likely to be higher.
For example in 2015, both RJD and JDU fought on 101 seats but RJD won 80 seats while JD(U) could won 71 seats. In spite of JDU has very strong chief ministerial candidate. Today, Nitish chips are down. Few state BJP leaders have openly expressed their views that party should take the reign its own hand. Indeed, anything is possible in Bihar politics.
