After a call from the Congress top brass, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on December 21 met Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav amid talks of Cabinet expansion and the upcoming Lok Sabha election in 2024.
This came amid buzz that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tried to reach out to Mr. Kumar on Thursday evening but somehow could not talk to each other even as party president Mallikarjun Kharge later spoke to the Chief Minister.
Later in the day, Mr. Kumar met his Deputy in the Cabinet at 1, Anne Marg, which is the official residence of the Chief Minister. Both the leaders met for half-an-hour but chose not to reveal what transpired between them to media.
However, RJD sources told The Hindu that the two leaders discussed about cabinet expansion of the State government and on strategies for the upcoming 2024 parliamentary election.
Cabinet expansion
The State government has been delaying induction of two more Congress legislators into the Cabinet. The party has been demanding this for a long time. In the 243-member State Assembly, the Bihar Cabinet can have a maximum of 36 berths but five of them are vacant for few months.
Earlier, at the fourth Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) meeting in New Delhi on December 19, both Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad had come out of it reportedly in a huff after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed the name of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the Prime Ministerial face of the alliance with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is also convener of Aam Admi Party (AAP), endorsing the proposal. Though, Mr. Kharge had intervened to assert that the decision of Prime Ministerial candidate would be taken after the election.
Meanwhile, the buzz in political circles of Bihar is that it was Mr. Prasad who wanted the West Bengal Chief Minister to propose the name of Mr. Kharge as INDIA bloc’s Prime Ministerial face to “cut Mr. Kumar’s political design to size”. Few days ago, both Mr. Prasad and his son Mr. Yadav had gone to Kolkata and met Ms. Banerjee but it was said to be a “courtesy meeting”.
“Politics has its several shades in Bihar these days. Nobody knows who is after whom and how,” a senior RJD leader, preferring anonymity told The Hindu, while adding: “The next few months are going to be very crucial for Bihar politics and governance. Let’s see”.
Though, Mr. Kumar has been repeatedly saying that he did not nurse any “ambition” in INDIA bloc except uniting the Opposition parties against BJP in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha election but his party leaders have often been iterating that he has all the qualities of becoming a PM candidate. Recently, even some posters in his favour to lead the Opposition parties had surfaced in Patna.
“What’s wrong in pitching him as the most credible PM face of Opposition parties? He has all the elements to grace the PM’s post. We’ll keep raising our voice for our leader,” a JD(U) leader said to be close to Mr. Kumar told The Hindu on Friday. When asked whether the party has taken a decision not to project Mr. Kumar as the PM face after the INDIA meeting in Delhi, the JD(U) leader categorically said: “At least I’m not aware about any such decision but it is all up to the top leaders of INDIA bloc to decide”.
Prashant Kishor and Congress
Meanwhile, former poll strategist-turned political activist Prashant Kishor on Thursday created ripples in Bihar’s political circles that he was “close to the ideologies of Congress”. The Congress party leaders welcomed his statement and pointed out that the doors were open for him to join the party.
“If Prashant Kishor is close to the ideologies of the Congress party, then we welcome him. If Mr. Kishor wants to come into our party, we welcome him. Congress party welcomes everyone,” Congress spokespersons Rajesh Rathor said.
Mr. Kishor is currently undertaking padyatra (foot march) across Bihar under his Jan Suraaj (people’s governance) campaign. However, earlier on December 19, Mr. Kishor had said that “BJP is ahead of INDIA bloc and that it has advantage in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls because of the party’s recent win in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections”.
