Mr Flip-flop: Why Nitish Kumar could embrace the NDA again

By Manoj Chaurasia

Patna: In June last year, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar snapped his 17-year-old association with the BJP and then walked out of the NDA. The provocation was the promotion of Narendra Modi, his arch rival, in the saffron party. Now that he has walked into a political mess, virtually isolated in Bihar, is his party—JD(U)—contemplating a re-think on the NDA? There are indications that it is. There's no official confirmation though.

Over the weekend, Sharad Yadav, the national chief of the party, was widely quoted in the local media saying the JD(U) may return to the NDA post the general elections. It began with a local daily making it front page news. Though both Yadav and Nitish have issued a quick rebuttal, speculation is rife in the state political circles about the party's game plan.

"There does not appear any question of returning to the NDA…Words have been put in Sharad Yadavji's mouth to create a controversy," Nitish told the media. This was soon followed by another quick denial from Yadav himself who wondered "having made any such statement". Strangely, none of them threatened to file defamation case against the newspaper. Political observers feel this could be part of the JD(U)'s strategy to hold together the upper caste vote bank which is drifting away from the party after the NDA split.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. PTI

The BJP has already added fuel to the fire over the possibility over the JD(U)'s return to the NDA. "There was only political disagreement between us, not permanent divorce," remarked BJP national vice-president CP Thakur, adding "If a proposal comes from their side, we will consider it favourably."

Experts say the JD(U) might have been forced to rework its strategy in view of reports that the Muslims will vote carefully this time to ensure that the division in their votes does not benefit Modi. Nitish had initially sought to ignore the upper castes, who are considered the traditional vote bank of the BJP, and had played Muslim and Mahadalit cards to the hilt but as thing stand today, the party itself does not look amused with the major "secular parties" joining hands, thus leaving very little space for it.

The apparent apprehension in the JD(U) camp is that the party which won 20 of the total 25 seats in the last Lok Sabha polls may flounder this time since it is a part of neither the NDA nor the UPA. The next elections would witness a direct fight between both these formations in Bihar and in that case parties standing alone would hardly have a chance to put up a decent fight.

Muslims, who initially appeared to be cosying up to the JD(U), are not showing the same warmth now that it is clear that it would be a fight between the NDA and the UPA (the RJD-Congress-LJP-NCP combine). Voting for the JD(U), they feel, would thus may indirectly benefit BJP candidates. The way Nitish tried hard to be invited at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the AMU at Kishanganj—a Congress function—and then went out claiming the JD(U) had a major role to play in the entire project as it was his government which made available more than 200 acres of land free of cost speak volumes about his desperation to impress the Muslim.

This is, however, not the first time that the JD(U) appears to be taking a different stand from its established line. Nitish himself has been fairly inconsistent. Earlier, Nitish had hit out the Congress, terming it as the "mother of corruption" and "inflation party". A few days ago, he blamed the Congress for anti-Sikh riots in 1984 and Bhagalpur riots in 1989 saying it could not be absolved of its responsibility. This is a bit surprising given his government survives on the support of the four Congress members. The Congress had come to his rescue when his government had come in minority after Nitish broke off relations with the BJP. Nitish has dared the Congress to withdraw support.

In the same way, Nitish has declared a war on "corruption" and his government in Bihar is confiscating the properties of the corrupt officials. Nitish also mocked the anti-corruption stand of Rahul Gandhi describing it as dikhawa (show) when he appeared sealing the electoral deal with Lalu Prasad's RJD but strangely he does not mind shaking hands with AIDMK chief J Jayalalitha and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who face corruption charges. Nitish is actively working for formation of a non-Congress and non-BJP federation of like-minded parties of which these two parties are expected to be its part.

Nitish Kumar also claims that there is no place for criminals in the JD(U), but recently his party inducted three alleged gangsters, namely Rajesh Kumar alias Chunnu Thakur, Shad Alam alias Shaboo and Rahesh Kumar Roshan alias Babloo Dev. Of them, Thakur was allegedly involved in the kidnapping of school boy Kislay which made headlines all through the 2005 assembly polls. He was removed from the party after the move was bitterly criticized in the media.

In the backdrop of his frequent flip flops, nobody's would be surprised if he decides to go back to the NDA.