- Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Is a new crisis brewing in the coalition government of the eastern Indian state of Bihar?
Indian home minister Amit Shah and JP Nadda, the national president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have assured the state’s chief minister, Nitish Kumar, that he would remain the face of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 general elections and the Bihar assembly elections in 2025 but Kumar is reportedly not convinced.
According to a report by the NDTV, Shah’s perceived grip on Bihar through the selection of ministers seen close to him is being perceived as a threat by Kumar, whose Janata Dal (United) is in alliance with the BJP in the state since 2017 when he ended his Grand Alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal and other parties.
It has been reported that the exit of former central minister RCP Singh from the JD(U) on Saturday (6) with a parting shot aimed at Kumar has been the tipping point. Singh’s move came a day after Kumar’s party asked him to give explanation over serious allegations of corruption that have been levelled against him by some JD(U) workers.
Singh said while exiting, “I’ll just say that there’s no cure to jealousy…Nitish Kumar will not become Prime Minister in any of his seven lives.”
In July, the JD(U) denied Singh a berth in the Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the Indian parliament. Last year, Singh, a former national president of the JD(U), had become the minister of steel in prime minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet without consulting Kumar, the report added.
Besides, the Bihar chief minister is also reportedly not happy with the speaker of the state assembly, Vijay Kumar Sinha, and wants him removed. On more than one occasion, Kumar has expressed his disappointment over Sinha who he has accused of openly flouting the Indian Constitution by questioning his government.
Sinha is a member of the BJP.
It has also been reported that Kumar has opened a communication with RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, with whom he had a major difference in 2017 that ended the Grand Alliance. The chief minister has also been boycotting major events called by either PM Modi or home minister Shah, including the oath-taking ceremony of president Droupadi Murmu.
Sources close to Kumar told NDTV that he is upset over the way the BJP leaders of Bihar have been targeting him and how the central leadership has remained indifferent.
While the BJP has been making major changes to its team in the state, such as removing former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi out of the state and recalling former state minister Nand Kishore Yadav and appointing Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi as deputy chief ministers, observers feel these moves diminished the clout of the chief minister from the JD(U) as most decisions were taken by the saffron party’s central leadership.
