Inside Patna: How Nitish stumped all to handpick new CM
May 20, 2014
Patna: A bitter internal feud in the Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] that broke out since the 16 May Lok Sabha results, has temporarily subsided with Jitan Ram Majhi replacing Nitish Kumar as the new Bihar chief minister. Mr Kumar was locked in a fierce battle with a rival group led by Sharad Yadav, who blamed Mr Kumar’s decisions for the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha. Mr Kumar eventually had his way by handpicking his successor, a Dalit leader who had served as minister for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe welfare in his cabinet.
Mr Majhi, a low-profile Nitish Kumar loyalist, had lost his Lok Sabha seat in Gaya, only managing third position. Around 5pm yesterday, as he was about to leave for Gaya, Mr Majhi suddenly got a call from Nitish Kumar. Within a couple of hours he was formally announced as the next chief minster of Bihar.
How Nitish turned the tide
Ever since he snapped ties with BJP, Mr Kumar has been under pressure within his party: once the Lok Sabha results came in, with his party winning just two seats (down from 20 last time), that disenchantment turned into rebellion against him. That is when he decided to pull the plug, going in for the resignation.
“Nitishji’s decision has made the rebels rethink,” said one party spokesperson. “He is getting enormous support now: even the ministers and MLAs who were against him are stumped and are now supporting him. They can’t accept any other leader, who they can take as the face of the party when they go back to the electorate.”
A campaign to get Nitish Kumar back to accept the CMs post was launched by both the pro-Nitish camp and the upper caste faction in the party to stop Sharad Yadav’s camp from taking over the government of Bihar. But Mr Kumar conveyed to the party that he wants to go back to the electorate and return to the assembly with a stronger mandate in the elections, which are due in the second half of 2015. He said he wanted to tour the state and is keen to know about the reasons of the BJP’s landslide victory in Bihar.
In his resignation, he scored over two of his opponents: Narendra Singh, who used to raise a banner of revolt every now and then against him, worked with his group of upper caste MLAs to rally behind Mr Kumar; the other ambitious man in the party Sharad Yadav, faced the wrath of the party MLAs and workers since he started taking initiatives to form the next government after Mr Kumar’s resignation. Mr Yadav has been isolated in his own party over his comments on Mr Kumar and inclination to tie-up with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
The Nitish Kumar camp took a two step-strategy: first take over the party meetings, second get an upper hand in selection of the next chief minister. They succeeded in both.
In the meeting of the JD(U) legislative party on 18 May, the atmosphere was quite charged and some MLAs even raised slogans against Sharad Yadav. When the state party chief, Vashishtha Narayan Singh stood to speak and said that no decision would be taken without the consent of Mr Kumar, he was booed and forced to sit down. Nitish Kumar confidante Shyam Rajak said that all decision of the party and government’s future would be taken by Mr Kumar and the party will not accept any name apart from him.
The heated debate continued until Nitish Kumar intervened and spoke for more than an hour justifying his resignation and decision to go with it; in the end, he asked for a day’s time to take a final call. Next day the mood in the meeting remained pro-Nitish Kumar, though he declined to get back as chief minister. So, he was asked to pick a name of his choice.
Modi’s win forces talks with Lalu
As the Modi sledgehammer flattened all opposition in Bihar, friends turned foes were once again ready to turn friends. Old socialist comrades Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav were in hectic parleys, figuring out if they can work together against the Modi wave, which was threatening to break the JD(U). But Nitish Kumar and his supporters stood firmly against any truck with the RJD: after all the JD(U) was carved out of the erstwhile Janata Dal after Lalu Prasad Yadav was named in the fodder scam.
In the talks with Sharad Yadav’s camp, the RJD was pushing for a Yadav chief minister from the JD (U), with a Muslim deputyfrom the RJD; this was an effort by the RJD chief to strengthen his fabled Muslim-Yadav alliance. But this proposal was not acceptable to many JD(U) leaders, who are primarily from the Kurmi and upper caste communities. They saw the strengthening of the Yadav-Muslim axis as a losing proposition. So, in spite of their misgivings about Nitish Kumar’s leadership, many JD(U) leaders fell in line with their former chief minister.
And then Mr Kumar surprised all by his choice of the new chief minister, including the chosen one himself.
May 20, 2014
Patna: A bitter internal feud in the Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] that broke out since the 16 May Lok Sabha results, has temporarily subsided with Jitan Ram Majhi replacing Nitish Kumar as the new Bihar chief minister. Mr Kumar was locked in a fierce battle with a rival group led by Sharad Yadav, who blamed Mr Kumar’s decisions for the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha. Mr Kumar eventually had his way by handpicking his successor, a Dalit leader who had served as minister for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe welfare in his cabinet.
Mr Majhi, a low-profile Nitish Kumar loyalist, had lost his Lok Sabha seat in Gaya, only managing third position. Around 5pm yesterday, as he was about to leave for Gaya, Mr Majhi suddenly got a call from Nitish Kumar. Within a couple of hours he was formally announced as the next chief minster of Bihar.
How Nitish turned the tide
Ever since he snapped ties with BJP, Mr Kumar has been under pressure within his party: once the Lok Sabha results came in, with his party winning just two seats (down from 20 last time), that disenchantment turned into rebellion against him. That is when he decided to pull the plug, going in for the resignation.
“Nitishji’s decision has made the rebels rethink,” said one party spokesperson. “He is getting enormous support now: even the ministers and MLAs who were against him are stumped and are now supporting him. They can’t accept any other leader, who they can take as the face of the party when they go back to the electorate.”
A campaign to get Nitish Kumar back to accept the CMs post was launched by both the pro-Nitish camp and the upper caste faction in the party to stop Sharad Yadav’s camp from taking over the government of Bihar. But Mr Kumar conveyed to the party that he wants to go back to the electorate and return to the assembly with a stronger mandate in the elections, which are due in the second half of 2015. He said he wanted to tour the state and is keen to know about the reasons of the BJP’s landslide victory in Bihar.
In his resignation, he scored over two of his opponents: Narendra Singh, who used to raise a banner of revolt every now and then against him, worked with his group of upper caste MLAs to rally behind Mr Kumar; the other ambitious man in the party Sharad Yadav, faced the wrath of the party MLAs and workers since he started taking initiatives to form the next government after Mr Kumar’s resignation. Mr Yadav has been isolated in his own party over his comments on Mr Kumar and inclination to tie-up with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
The Nitish Kumar camp took a two step-strategy: first take over the party meetings, second get an upper hand in selection of the next chief minister. They succeeded in both.
In the meeting of the JD(U) legislative party on 18 May, the atmosphere was quite charged and some MLAs even raised slogans against Sharad Yadav. When the state party chief, Vashishtha Narayan Singh stood to speak and said that no decision would be taken without the consent of Mr Kumar, he was booed and forced to sit down. Nitish Kumar confidante Shyam Rajak said that all decision of the party and government’s future would be taken by Mr Kumar and the party will not accept any name apart from him.
The heated debate continued until Nitish Kumar intervened and spoke for more than an hour justifying his resignation and decision to go with it; in the end, he asked for a day’s time to take a final call. Next day the mood in the meeting remained pro-Nitish Kumar, though he declined to get back as chief minister. So, he was asked to pick a name of his choice.
Modi’s win forces talks with Lalu
As the Modi sledgehammer flattened all opposition in Bihar, friends turned foes were once again ready to turn friends. Old socialist comrades Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav were in hectic parleys, figuring out if they can work together against the Modi wave, which was threatening to break the JD(U). But Nitish Kumar and his supporters stood firmly against any truck with the RJD: after all the JD(U) was carved out of the erstwhile Janata Dal after Lalu Prasad Yadav was named in the fodder scam.
In the talks with Sharad Yadav’s camp, the RJD was pushing for a Yadav chief minister from the JD (U), with a Muslim deputyfrom the RJD; this was an effort by the RJD chief to strengthen his fabled Muslim-Yadav alliance. But this proposal was not acceptable to many JD(U) leaders, who are primarily from the Kurmi and upper caste communities. They saw the strengthening of the Yadav-Muslim axis as a losing proposition. So, in spite of their misgivings about Nitish Kumar’s leadership, many JD(U) leaders fell in line with their former chief minister.
And then Mr Kumar surprised all by his choice of the new chief minister, including the chosen one himself.
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This story was first published in www.thepoliticalindian.com on May 20, 2014
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