Bihar could be next after Maha, says Kushwaha; JD (U) dismissive

Former Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal leader Upendra Kushwaha on Sunday called Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s recent one-on-one meetings with his party MLAs as an effort to “salvage the situation” while drawing parallels with the political situation in Maharashtra even as the ruling Janata Dal (United) dismissed the speculations.

“What has happened in Maharashtra, where Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar walked out of the party with several MLAs, could also happen in Bihar. It is just a matter of time,” said Kushwaha while talking to media persons in Sasaram.

“Many leaders are in touch with the Bharatiya Janata Party... Nitish Kumar knows it and so he is trying to salvage the situation or delay the inevitable by personally meeting his leaders. But he cannot stop it, what has happened in Maharashtra will also happen elsewhere and it was bound to happen. It is a result of non-BJP parties’ meeting in Patna in the name united opposition,” he added.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar had on Friday met all legislators of the Janata Dal-United individually. He will next meet his party MPs individually for the next three days.

Party leaders privy to the developments said that the meetings were Nitish’s idea to “get feedback about the ground realities and the challenges” in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Reacting to the development, the state unit of BJP described the meetings as a “sign of nervousness” on the part of the chief minister. “He (Nitish) is shaky about his own legislators and is therefore meeting them. Soon, JD (U) will disintegrate and lose its existence and that is what Nitish is worried about,” said Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi.

Dismissing the speculations, parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, however, said that there was nothing unusual about a leader meeting his party legislators. “It is beyond me why people are speculating. He is the leader of legislators and that is why is meeting them. He can always do it, whichever way he wants,” he added.

Choudhary said that the BJP was hoping for something to happen for the last six months and making all kinds of speculations, but nothing is happening. “The fact is that the BJP is desperate ever since all the non-BJP parties gathered in Patna at the call of Nitish Kumar and resolved to take on the party unitedly. Now, the prospect of another meeting has made them jittery. They are free to speculate,” he added.

Meanwhile, former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies and social analyst DM Diwakar said that Nitish Kumar meeting his MPs and MLAs was a significant step.

“Only few can match the social engineering skills of Nitish Kumar. In the election year, Nitish wants to cover all the corners and is therefore meeting legislators and MPs individually. He would not like any dissent, which the Opposition BJP would like to fan and take advantage of. So, he is meeting leaders individually to get their feedback and plan accordingly for better coordination. It is good for the organisation and a timely move, as election year witnesses flux in all parties. Drawing a parallel with Maharashtra is natural by the Opposition as such things are not uncommon in politics,” he added.