Congress googly catches Nitish on wrong foot

Patna,(BiharTimes): Recent developments in Bihar suggest that there is a sense of panic in the Janata Dal (United) rank and file. Even the state chief minister Nitish Kumar, in the words of former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, is a totally confused man.

Only on Monday he said some strange things. First the CM told the media that he had never said that mid-day meal tragedy in Saran district was a conspiracy hatched by his political opponents.

Then the same day he said something unexpected. Nitish called the pre-poll surveys as entertainment programmes and a PR exercise.

No doubt, they may be so. But Nitish had never said so in the past. On Monday he did not stop there and went on to say that even during the last Assembly election the pre-poll surveys predicted that there would be a hung Assembly.

This is totally wrong as in 2010 almost all the pre- and post-poll surveys gave clear and thumping majority to Janata Dal (United)-BJP alliance. People’s memory may be short but not so short to be taken for granted.

Not only that Nitish is now caught in a bitter dilemma. The pre-poll surveys are giving something between seven and 10 seats to his party in the next Lok Sabha election. At present the strength of JD(U) in Lok Sabha is 20. Off the record many media pundits are of the view that the JD(U) may perform even worse.

Nitish is not only perturbed by the likely gain of BJP. What irks him more is that most surveys are showing that Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, may end up getting much more seats than Janata Dal (United).

Most of the surveys have been done before Lalu’s conviction, which has generated sympathy for him. Besides, RJD is showing sign of improvement without any formal alliance with the Congress.

Now with Congress showing sign of tilting towards the RJD-LJP alliance there is real reason for uneasiness in JD(U) camp. When the party broke its relationship with the BJP many of its leaders were convinced that Congress would certainly enter into an alliance with it.

The way the Union ministers made a beeline to Bihar and appreciated what they called “good work” of the Nitish Kumar government it appeared that the JD(U)-Congress alliance is almost certain.

Even before divorcing BJP Nitish escorted Union Finance Minister P Chidamabaram to Congress party headquarters, Sadaquat Ashram, when the latter was in Patna. Nitish was all praise for Chidambaram when the latter talked about re-visiting the criteria fixed for special category status. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh praised Bihar CM and called him secular.

But then that is the Congress’ way of playing politics. After supporting the Nitish government with four MLAs on June 19 the party gradually started maintaining equal distance with both JD(U) and RJD. The Congress had not only succeeded in splitting NDA it at the same time virtually left JD(U) high and dry. The panel set up by the Centre did not recommend special category status for Bihar––in fact it calls for the end of special category status.

This was the googly which flummoxed Nitish.

After the conviction of Lalu Yadav the Congress high command felt that there is groundswell of support for the RJD chief. None else but the party MP, Abhijit Mukherjee, son of President Pranab Mukherjee, was rushed to Ranchi to meet Lalu Yadav in jail. That was a significant move and the party started giving signal that an RJD-LJP-Congress alliance can not be ruled out.

As Congress too is in a tight corner it certainly wants a more reliable and trustworthy partner. By ditching the BJP Nitish has confirmed the allegation often levelled by Lalu Yadav that he can never be trusted and can betray even the best friend.

So the Congress leaders are now not so much inclined towards Nitish. Even Union minister like Jairam Ramesh, who earlier used to praise the Nitish government sounded very critical of it while addressing a function to commemorate the birth anniversary of the first chief minister Shri Krishna Sinha on October 21.

Janata Dal (United)’s helplessness can be measured from the fact that a few days back the party national general secretary, Shivanand Tiwary, openly called for an alliance with the Congress.

Since the party got no response from the Congress the Janata Dal (United) is now looking towards the Third Front, which is actually a Thud Front in Bihar. An alliance with Congress would have at least added 10 per cent votes for Janata Dal (United). But any Third Front in Bihar would hardly add any vote to Janata Dal (United). After all there is no pre-poll alliance in Third Front––it is only an idea which may come up after the election results are out.

It is here that the JD(U) is caught on the wrong foot.