Patna,(BiharTimes): Nobody ever imagined that the killing of five Indian soldiers on August 6 by Pakistani troops on the Line of Control would spark off an infighting in a political party in Bihar.
The Janata Dal (United) is facing a big crisis following the issuance of show-cause notices to two senior ministers in the Nitish cabinet––Narendra Singh and Bhim Singh.
Though both apologized after being asked by the central leadership to do so what upset a section of the party rank and file is the show cause notice by the party chief Sharad Yadav. They all know that this action in fact has the blessing of the chief minister Nitish Kumar as Sharad alone can not dare to take any such move.
As Narendra Singh is among the most experienced ministerial colleagues––during the JP movement days he was senior to both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad––any such action at the instance of the chief minister was bound to be interpreted in a different way. As Narendra Singh has strong support within the party and at least 35-40 MLAs are with him he is eying for the post of deputy chief minister after the dismissal of BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi.
At least two JD(U) MLAs have openly condemned the party’s show cause notice. One of them, Sumit Singh, is in fact the son of Narendra Singh while other is Jai Kumar Singh from Dinara Assembly segment in Rohtas district.
“When my father had already issued an apology, what was the need for the showcause?” the son asked.
On the other hand Jai Kumar Singh said Narendra bhai is not a small-time leader. He is a very senior leader of the party and has given strength to the JD(U) and the government since 2005. What was the need of issuing a showcause when he had already apologised for his statement?
But what came as a big surprise is the way the former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi took a U-turn. He was among the first to seek the resignation of Narendra Singh, when the latter gave clean-chit to the Pakistani army. But on Tuesday he called a media conference to say that the show-cause amounts to humiliate a senior leader like Narendra Singh.
When reminded that it was Modi himself who bayed for Narendra’s blood the former deputy chief minister said that since he had apologized there was no justification for any such action now.
It is clear that Modi wants to fish in the troubled water of Janata Dal (United) and come to the rescue of his ‘friend’ from JP movement days.
"Had I been in his position I would have resigned by now,” Modi added.
Political observers are of the view that the BJP is trying to widen differences within JD(U). It wants to woo leaders like Narendra Singh, who, it is said, has influence not only on Rajput MLAs, but even some Bhumihar and other castemen are behind him.
This is the first time after the split with BJP on June 16 last that the Janata Dal (United) has seen such a revolt-like situation. Sumeet’s statement is in fact being interpreted as a threat from none else but Narendra Singh himself.
It is feared that several more leaders may jump into the support of the agriculture minister.
His supporters are enraged over the language used in the showcause. “It says that you (Narendra Singh) did not issue an apology the next day despite the fact that I (Sharad Yadav) had telephoned you to do so,” Narendra Singh’s supporters said.
His supporters also see backward-forward divide in it. While Bhim Singh, who comes from Extreme Backward Caste category was not issued show-cause for three days Narendra Singh was sent the same notice the very next day. Both Bhim and Narendra got the show-cause notice simultaneously as any action only against agriculture minister would have amounted to open discrimination.
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