BJP sees opportunity in Lalu's return to Mahagathbandhan politics

Patna, Oct 29 (IANS) Despite the Mahagathbandhan government being run jointly by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav, there is a slight distance between them which is reflected in their efforts to set up lobbies in Bihar.

The JD-U and RJD leaders are claiming that there is no difference between them but the BJP is seeing a gap and is trying to exploit it to its advantage.

The first issue was noticed on Thursday when the Congress party invited Lalu Prasad as the chief guest to Sadakat Ashram to celebrate the 136th birth anniversary of Bihar Kesri and first Chief Minister of the state Sri Krishna Singh but did not invite Chief Minister Nitish Kumar despite the Congress being in the Mahagathbandhan government.

On the other hand, Nitish Kumar went to the native village of Bahubali convicted leader Anand Mohan in Pangachia in Saharsa for the inauguration of the statue of his grandfather. Kumar went to Anand Mohan's village at a time when the latter is involved in a war of words with RJD leaders over the “Thakur Ka Kuan” poem mentioned by MP Manoj Jha during a special session of the Rajya Sabha.

“The grand alliance government is looking united in Bihar but all is not well between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad. The latter, in particular, tried to create a strong lobby against Nitish Kumar to bargain with him over the post of chief minister for his son Tejashwi Yadav.

"There are politics involved in every move of Lalu Prasad like he said that Rahul Gandhi should marry during the first meeting of the INDIA Alliance in Patna and sharing the Champaran meat recipe in the month of Sawan. Lalu Prasad has already squeezed the position of Nitish Kumar at the national level and it was reflected in the second and third meeting of the INDIA Alliance in Bengaluru and Mumbai. They were advocating a one party one candidate formula to challenge the BJP but it is not visible in the MP assembly election.

"Why is it happening? The answer is very simple. It is happening only due to the arrogance of the Congress and hence the JD-U is completely isolated within the grand alliance. Nitish Kumar, in a bid to relieve pressure, visited the native village of a convicted person to get some support and backup,” Nikhil Anand, the national general secretary of the BJP OBC wing, told IANS.

“The Congress invited Lalu Prasad to Sadakat Ashram but did not invite Nitish Kumar despite him being the chief minister of Bihar. The whole idea behind this move was to create a strong lobby within the Mahagathbandhan against Nitish Kumar to bargain for the post of chief minister. Lalu Prasad has only one agenda -- to make his son Tejashwi Yadav the chief minister of Bihar. He is not even interested in the Lok Sabha poll,” Anand said.

Arvind Singh, the spokesperson of the BJP Bihar unit told IANS: “They have made an opportunistic alliance in Bihar to grab power. The state’s first CM Sri Krishna Singh is a Bihar Kesri and the Congress invited a person convicted in the fodder scam to celebrate his 136th birth anniversary."

"Lalu Prasad Yadav had given a slogan of Bhura Baal Saaf Karo which means finish Bhumihars, Rajpurs, Brahmins and Kayasthas from Bihar. Now, the RJD is trying to corner the votes of the Bhumihars and other upper caste people through the Congress. 

"In the past, the Congress was against caste politics but now its leaders are advocating a caste based survey in the states where they are ruling. Nitish Kumar also went to the house of a convicted person Anand Mohan only for taking the votes of the Rajput caste. This is sheer opportunism to score over each other and the BJP is not affected by it,” Singh said.

When asked JD-U MLC Neeraj Kumar told IANS: “It was just an event in the native village of Anand Mohan and Nitish Kumar went there to inaugurate the statues of the former’s grandfather and uncle and nothing else. It has nothing to do with politics. There is no conflict between the JD-U and the RJD. We are united in Bihar and running the government smoothly.”

Shivanand Tiwari, the national vice president of the RJD told IANS: “Nitish Kumar has old ties with Anand Mohan. The latter was in the Samata Party in the past. So Nitish Kumar went there and it was his personal decision. As far as the Congress invitation to Lalu Prasad Yadav is concerned, everyone knows that the RJD and the Congress party have an old friendship. Lalu Prasad and Sonia Gandhi are old alliance partners. So, the opposition might highlight this point but I am pretty sure that there is no politics involved in it to lobby against each other.”

“Lalu Prasad is making efforts to make Tejashwi the CM of Bihar and there is nothing wrong in it. Every father wants his son to become successful and Nitish Kumar also said several times that Tejashwi Yadav is the future of Bihar and he is doing all these things for him,” Tiwari said.

In the past, Nitish Kumar declared Prashant Kishore and RCP Singh his political successors. He also said that they would take the JD-U forward in the future. However, everyone knows how they separated from Nitish Kumar, Tiwari added.