New Delhi: The JD(U) on Saturday made it clear that the INDIA bloc government in Bihar is on the brink of fall as its spokesperson K C Tyagi hit out at the Congress for repeatedly “insulting” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and said he sees no possibility of the opposition putting up a real fight to the “all-powerful” BJP.
Amid ample signs that the BJP is warming up to do business with Kumar again, the party is also facing the task of keeping its smaller allies like Chirag Paswan and Upendra Kushwaha, both staunch critics of the JD(U) president, in a good humour.
In a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda, Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) leader Chirag Paswan raised some concerns and is learnt to have sought assurance that his party will not have to compromise on its share of seats in the Lok Sabha polls after Kumar’s entry in the National Democratic Alliance.
Paswan later told reporters he has received assurances on several of his issues but added that he will finalise his party’s stand on developments in Bihar after the situation becomes clear.
It is not yet clear if and when Kumar is joining hands with the BJP, he said.
As the leaders of all three main parties, the BJP, RJD and the JD(U) held meetings in Patna amid the possibility of Kumar resigning on Sunday and then announcing a tie-up with the former ally, his close aide Tyagi clearly indicated that his party is all set to dump the INDIA bloc.
“The INDIA bloc is on the verge of collapse. The alliance of INDIA bloc parties is almost over in Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar,” he told reporters.
The goal and intentions with which Kumar, the JD(U) president, succeeded in bringing non-Congress parties with the Congress have come unstuck, Tyagi said, asserting that their leader was “misunderstood”.
Kumar never hankered after a position in the alliance but a section of the Congress leadership repeatedly insulted him, he said.
Tyagi said he could not see as to how the INDIA bloc parties could fight the “all-powerful” BJP.
The Bihar chief minister succeeded in bringing together several parties in Patna but the entire process became so limp that the INDIA bloc has failed to evolve a joint leadership and agenda even though the Lok Sabha elections are now round the corner, he said.
The BJP’s top brass’ decision to reach out to existing state allies, especially Paswan, underscores its effort to rule out a repeat of the 2020 assembly polls when the LJP leader walked out of the alliance to contest mostly against the JD(U), leading to a steep fall in the rally of Kumar’s party.
The chief minister blamed the BJP for it and snapped their ties in 2022 to join hands with the RJD-Congress-Left alliance.
Paswan also wants that any new NDA government in the state headed by Kumar should have an agenda drawing from the positions of all allies, sources said.
He, however, did not reveal what Shah and Nadda told him about ongoing political developments in the state.
He said, “We have had our concerns which grew amid these media reports but without any authorised information on the developments in Bihar. I strongly raised my concerns in the meeting and received assurances on many issues.” He added that he had been in touch with BJP leaders lately and come to know that there is some “truth” in these murmurs, a reference to the reports of political realignment in Bihar.
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