Ever since Janata Dal (United) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar refused to join the Union Cabinet for being offered just a “symbolic representation” instead of “proportional representation”, the rift between the party and ally BJP has been, apparently, widening. Though Nitish Kumar did attend the oath-taking ceremony of the Union Council of Ministers in New Delhi on May 30, the very next day he returned to Patna and told journalists that his party would not join the Union Cabinet in future too.
No BJP leader, however, called up Mr. Kumar to assuage his ruffled feelings, and in what is said to be a tit-for-tat move, he too went on to expand his Cabinet in the State by inducting eight new Ministers from his own party. He later said, that BJP too was offered one ministerial berth but they said they would take decision on it later.
But political grapevine is that BJP president Amit Shah didn’t even take a call on Mr. Kumar’s offer which was made through senior State BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. Hours later, Union minister Giriraj Singh hit out at Mr. Kumar and Mr. Sushil Modi through a tweet, ridiculing them for attending an Iftar party hosted by arch-rival Jitan Ram Manjhi and alliance partner Lok Janshakti Party.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which drew a blank in the just-concluded parliamentary polls, took the first step ahead and offered Mr. Kumar to rejoin the 'mahagathbandhan'. After the BJP’s cold shoulder to Mr. Kumar and the RJD’s drubbing in the elections, both need each other again to make a 2015-like formidable alliance in the Assembly elections due next year in October-November.
The BJP knows it well that the JD(U) rode pillion on the “Modi buzz” to win 16 seats out of the 17 it contested and managed to increase its vote share from 16.04 % (2014) to 21.81%, while the BJP’s vote share fell from 29.86% (2014) to 23.58%. The fast-changing political equations and calculations do indicate another round of break-ups and alliances in Bihar.
