A realignment among the members of the former Janata Dal seems to be taking place in Bihar in the wake of their resounding defeat at the hands of the BJP.
Pre-empting any move to destabilise his precariously placed government by the BJP, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar forced his restive legislators, some of whom were reaching out to the BJP, to close ranks behind him by quitting his post but not recommending the dissolution of the Assembly.
As the threat of a snap poll became imminent, the JD(U) legislature party meeting on Sunday evening reflected a collective intent to prevent elections. Hence, the loudest clamour was for Nitish Kumar to withdraw his resignation. The legislators unanimously chose Nitish Kumar as their leader. Ramai Ram, a Nitish baiter, was heckled and pushed around by the Chief Minister’s supporters.
Nitish Kumar, however, did not immediately recede from the high moral ground he had taken a day after the Lok Sabha results came out. In the wake of the JD(U)’s disastrous performance, he had declared: “I take moral responsibility. Our ideology has not been defeated but the results show that there was massive communal polarisation. But in view of what has happened, I do not think I should continue.”
A day later, he was being implored not to quit. “Nitish Kumar is our leader. Without him, the State cannot progress,” said JD(U) leader Sanjay Singh. The JD(U) president Sharad Yadav has also been active. He met Congress leaders, spoke to CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan, and to seal what he said is a “secular alliance against communal forces”, reached out to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
The JD(U) and the RJD are splinter groups of the former Janata Dal. Sharad Yadav believes that the BJP’s rise is due to the splintering of the Janata Dal. To prevent the BJP from breaching the party’s vote base any further, Yadav has opened channels with the RJD. “There is no danger to our government. Nitish Kumar has resigned because he feels responsible for what has happened in Bihar in the Lok Sabha elections. Ours is an ideological fight. In that, we will be successful,” Sharad Yadav told Business Line over the phone from Patna.
There was no word from RJD Chief Lalu Prasad on backing Nitish Kumar. Significantly, three RJD legislators resigned apparently in support of Nitish Kumar. There is no immediate threat to the Bihar government with the Congress, the CPI and some independents supporting the JD(U) from outside. But if the RJD too decides to back the State government from outside, it can last its full tenure till 2015.
At the same time, the numbers stack up to an impressive total in terms of vote percentage even in the Lok Sabha. The RJD, the Congress, the CPI and the JD(U) together accounted for more than 41 per cent of the votes in the recent polls. Although the actual strength of the Assembly is 243 and the number of seats won is a little higher, the effective strength on account of various vacancies over the last two years is 238.
The JD(U), which won 115 seats, now has 114 members and has been propped up by the support of four Congress members, three Independents and a CPI legislator.
Situation ‘precarious’ The BJP, meanwhile, described the situation as “unstable and precarious”. “It is a minority government. The Chief Minister has resigned but they claim they have the support of the desired number of legislators. I urge the Governor that he should parade the legislators to verify how many of them actually support this government,” said BJP leader Sushil Modi, who has been claiming that he has the support of at least 40 JD(U) legislators.
According to senior BJP leader and former State president CP Thakur, the BJP does not have the numbers to form a government in Bihar. “We do not have the requisite numbers. It looks like the former Janata Parivar is uniting. We will have to wait and watch,” Thakur told Business Line .