UNION Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah has touched a raw nerve in ally JD(U) by suggesting in a recent interview to India Today TV that the choice of who would be chief minister, should the NDA win in Bihar, remains open.
Shah said that while the NDA was contesting under the leadership of JD(U) supremo and incumbent CM Nitish Kumar, a call on the new CM would be taken after the polls.
On Saturday, the third biggest ally in the NDA, the Chirag Paswan-led LJP (Ram Vilas) said Shah’s stand was only natural. A Union minister, Paswan said it is “standard procedure that all the legislators of an alliance sit together to decide the CM”.
The JD(U) in turn asserted that Nitish, despite his health concerns, remains “the strongest NDA face” in Bihar.
In a post on X Saturday, JD(U) chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar wrote: “Surya tare, chandra tare, tare sakal sansar, vikas ki raah se na tare Nitish Kumar. Janata ka bharosa Nitish Kumar par adig – sushashan ke pratik, nyay ke saath, vikas ke vaahak NDA ke sarvsammat neta (The Sun moves, the Moon moves, so does the entire world, but Nitish Kumar never strays from the path of development. People’s faith in Nitish Kumar is unflinching – as a symbol of good governance, friend of justice, and as the unanimous leader of the NDA’s development agenda).”
Speaking to The Indian Express, Neeraj Kumar repeated: “Nitish Kumar is still the strongest and the unanimous NDA face in Bihar. He is leading the NDA campaign, a fact endorsed by all allies.”
That the JD(U) rushed to clear the confusion about Nitish’s role following Shah’s remarks underlines the apprehensions the party has about the threat the BJP poses to its long-standing primacy within the NDA in Bihar. For the first time, the two parties are contesting an equal number of constituencies, 101 each, with the JD(U) appeal that it be given even 1 seat more as a symbolic gesture ignored.
Paswan’s stand will not help matters as the JD(U) remains uncomfortable about the LJP (RV) and its “proximity” to the BJP. JD(U) leaders believe that one reason that the party’s tally in the 2020 Assembly elections fell to 43 from 71 in 2020, and the BJP’s went up from 53 to 74, was the LJP (RV) contesting against it on many seats, with BJP’s tacit support.
Shah was replying to a question on whether Nitish would be CM again if the NDA returned to power in Bihar. The BJP leader, who has led the seat negotiations in the state, said: “Who am I to make the CM? NDA MLAs will sit together post-poll results and choose the CM.”
In a way, Shah was reiterating what the BJP has indicated one way or the other, by refusing to clarify its stand on who would be CM of a new NDA government. However, that these remarks came from Shah, and so close to the polls, carry weight.
Asked about Shah’s remarks by reporters Saturday, Paswan said: “It is a standard process. Elected MLAs of the NDA will sit together and decide the CM candidate.”
In his campaign, Paswan, incidentally, has been talking about “nav sankalp (new resolution)” and “nav netritva (new leadership)”.
On Saturday, Paswan dropped in to meet Shah, who has been camping in Patna since Thursday. Speaking to reporters, he thanked the BJP and JD(U) for “showing a big heart in the NDA seat-sharing arrangement”. Taking a swipe at the confusion within the Mahagathbandhan, he added: “There is no clarity on whether Tejashwi Yadav is the face or not… The NDA, on the other hand, is all set for a historic victory under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
In the run-up to the seat deal, Nitish was said to have expressed open displeasure about some of the constituencies given to the LJP (RV), which is contesting 29 constituencies, more than it was expected to get in the NDA. The JD(U) supremo, however, ensured that at least the Rajgir (SC) and Sonbarsa (SC) seats, contested by the JD(U) in 2020, did not go to Paswan’s party.
In 2020, the BJP had agreed to Nitish staying on as CM, despite winning 31 seats more than the JD(U). However, with Nitish seen as on the decline, it is unlikely to be as accommodative this time if the score card is similar. Plus, in 2020, Nitish had a friend in the BJP in the form of long-time associate Sushil Kumar Modi, who passed away last year.
A BJP leader admitted the party was treading tricky ground. “We want to keep the CM choice open-ended, more so because Nitish is not in good health. But he still has political capital and a constituency, with EBC, women and Mahadalit votes with him.”
However, he suggested that the JD(U)’s numbers may not improve much from 2020. “All five constituents of the NDA – including the Hindustani Awam Morcha (S) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha, apart from the BJP, JD(U) and LJP (RV) – can get a good number of seats.”