Coup in Bihar scripted, directed by BJP, acted by Nitish and lost by Lalu, Rahul

India

oi-Maitreyee

By Maitreyee

Patna, July 27: Nobody understands politics better than a Bihari (a person from Bihar), goes a popular saying. On Wednesday, when Indian politics shifted its base from Lutyens' Delhi to the capital city of Bihar, Patna, even a regular Bihari, who claims to know politics like the back of his hand, was left baffled.

The moment Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) supremo Nitish Kumar tendered his resignation as the chief minister of Bihar to the coming together of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the JD(U) once again to form the government, politics in the northern India state moved faster than a bullet train, literally.

From the Opposition, the media to a regular person in Bihar, all that everyone was doing was to closely observe the fast-paced political development in the state. Within a few hours--precisely around 7 pm in the evening when Nitish addressed a bunch of reporters outside the Raj Bhavan (Governor's House) announcing his resignation to the meeting of the BJP leaders with the JD (U) legislators--Bihar lost a CM and quickly got a new one before the day ended.

Bihar Crisis : Nitish Kumar single handedly ended hopes of Grand Alliance | Oneindia News

The interesting thing is that the man who resigned from the chief ministerial post just a few hours ago managed to forge an alliance with his former adversaries to once again stake his claim for the government formation in the state.

Now, Nitish is all set to take oath as the CM of Bihar at around 10 am on Thursday. His deputy will be BJP's Sushil Kumar Modi, the man behind the splitting of Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) formed by the JD(U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress.

The Grand Alliance, perhaps the only saving grace in the kitty of the Opposition against the Narendra Modi government, was hailed as an intelligent arithmetic done by the three parties to take on the might of the Prime Minister and the BJP before the assembly polls in Bihar in 2015.

The Grand Alliance did manage to hurt the political growth of the BJP by winning the polls. In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the RJD emerged as the biggest party with 80 seats, followed by the JD(U) with 71 seats and the BJP with 53 seats. The Congress, the weakest link in the Grand Alliance, got 27 seats.

Now, that the Grand Alliance is shattered, it is hard to believe that the entire Bihar "drama" unfolded naturally and nobody was managing it from the backstage. First, Nitish resigned, where he took a moral high ground and played the role of a martyr who decided to leave the coveted post because of the corruption allegations faced by the key members of his then alliance partner, RJD.

Soon Modi tweeted to congratulate Nitish for taking a strong stand against corruption. In the same tweet, Modi expressed his support to Nitish. From then onwards, things were clear. Immediately, the BJP announced that it was not in support of mid-term polls and thus decided to back Nitish.

Then a few speculated whether the BJP would give an "outside" or an "inside" support to the JD(U). The BJP, who got a massive blow by losing the Bihar polls, does not want to play the role of a second fiddle. So, naturally it decided to be a part of the government. Once again, Modi wave swept Bihar. However, this time, without an election.

Now, where does it leave RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his entire family charged in multiple corruption cases? Lalu has the numbers, but not enough to form the government even with the support of the Congress.

For the government formation in Bihar, a party with or without support needs at least 122 seats. Together the RJD and the Congress have 107 seats, 15 seats less than the magic number.

Lalu, post-Nitish's resignation, did tell the media that the party would stake claim to form the next government as a few JD (U) leaders are ready to defect the party. That looks impossible now, as the JD(U) and the BJP have ensured that they remained in the driver's seat by quickly joining hands and announcing the government formation.

In fact, Lalu's son and former deputy of Nitish, Tejashwi Yadav, earlier said that he was going to meet Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to stake RJD's claim to form the government on Thursday at 11 am, almost an hour after Nitish's oath-taking ceremony.

In the heart of Lalu-Nitish rift lies Tejashwi, the 27-year-old son of Lalu, who was made the deputy chief minister in the Nitish's government. After the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Tejashwi on corruption charges, Nitish wanted him to resign from his cabinet to save his "clean image", which Lalu was not ready to oblige.

Lalu's attempt to save his son left him without any power, especially at a time when he has been fighting several corruption cases against himself and his entire family.

The Bihar story can't end without talking about Rahul Gandhi, vice president and face of the Congress. Once again, Modi proved stronger than Rahul, by taking away his "little sway" over Bihar also.

Rahul could have saved the Grand Alliance had he tried to iron out the differences between the RJD and the JD(U). Recently, when Nitish met Rahul to tell him that Tejashwi had to leave the government as charges against him were grave, Rahul simply ignored the warnings.

The Congress was well-aware about the growing bonhomie between Modi and Nitish, especially after the JD(U) chief decided to go against the Opposition and support the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate, Ram Nath Kovind, who is now country's President.

Still, the Congress decided not to do anything about the Bihar crisis. Like in Goa and Manipur, where the Congress had numbers, in Bihar too the party gave away power to the BJP in a platter.

If things continue to unfold like this, probably before 2019 Lok Sabha polls, where Modi's victory has been already predicted, Rahul and his teammates might be forced to leave politics forever.

OneIndia News