NEW DELHI: With Congress president Rahul Gandhi joining the protest of RJD’s GenNext, Tejashwi Yadav, that targeted Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for the “Muzaffarpur rapes”, Congress seems to be finally giving up on JD(U) chief as a potential partner.

Despite appeals from JD(U) that Congress stay away from the RJD protest at Jantar Mantar in the capital, Rahul not only showed up but cited the presence of political leaders on the dais as a picture of uniting opposition. More importantly, he took on Nitish Kumar by saying that if he was really ashamed of the incident, he should take expeditious action against the accused.

Kejri, Yechury, Yadav join rape protest

Young Yadav was at his relentless best against Kumar, his bête-noire, setting the tone for the protest which was joined by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal , CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and JD(U) rebel Sharad Yadav , among others.

The frame at Jantar Mantar came despite the fact that Kumar’s emissaries have been in touch with Congress over his restiveness with ally BJP: an overture which some in Congress seemed eager to reciprocate in order to prevent the saffron party from repeating its sweep of 40 LS seats in 2014.

JD(U) won the assembly elections in partnership with RJD and Congress, but last year quit the alliance and joined hands with BJP. Since the break-up, Yadav has kept up a strong onslaught against Kumar and repeatedly said that RJD’s doors were shut on “dhokhebaaz chacha”. Saturday’s protest suggested that Congress too may be veering towards RJD’s position on JD(U). Unlike RJD, Congress has believed that despite the “betrayal”, the opposition would notch a strong political gain in the perception war against BJP ahead of the 2019 elections if Kumar switched sides again.

Weakening BJP is more important, ran Congress’s argument, than smarting under Kumar’s “betrayal”.

