Patna,(BiharTimes): By apologizing to former chief minister Nitish Kumar and praising the Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav––though there was apparently no need to bring him into picture––the leader of opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council, Sushil Kumar Modi, in a way conceded that he, and his partymen, crossed the limits while charging the former boss with instigating clash in the Upper House on Thursday.
Many BJP leaders are of the view that SuMo went overboard and overreacted and thus, in a way, let down the party. Even the chairman of the Council, Awadesh Narayan Singh, who is from the BJP, not only gave a clean chit to Nitish Kumar, but also said: “I saw it with my own eyes and the TV footage also makes it clear that Nitish Kumar did not instigate anybody to pick fight. He rather worked hard to bring peace among warring members.”
As Nitish Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi and Rabri Devi are the members of the Upper House it is bound to attract more media attention. Yet there is no denying the fact that leaders like SuMo have the knack to remain in the news.
However, as the deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, had to behave responsibly for over seven and a half years.
Before that he was the leader of opposition in the state Assembly for quite a few years. He used to attract a lot of media attention by raising various issues.
When Lallu Prasad was the chief minister he used to counter the BJP attack with his own style of argument. But after Rabri Devi became the chief minister in July 1997 SuMo got full opportunity to corner the statement.
Rabri had to rely on weak ministers and MLAs like Sadhu Yadav, who was no match to SuMo.
However, he used to cross limit even then. But SuMo used to have advantage in pre-2005 years. Firstly, there was hardly any regional channel in Bihar then which would highlight so graphically as to what actually happened and who was responsible for the scene.
In contrast on Thursday the chairman had to rely on the television channels as well as his own eyes for what had happened. Had there been no such footage SuMo might not have to regret for what happened and subsequently end up praising Nitish and Sharad.
Secondly, SuMo had the quality to befriend the media. So in the past––that is, during the age of print media––several of his ‘friends’ would overlook even if he, or his party members, were responsible for creating ugly scene in the Assembly.
However, after July 24 incident SuMo had learnt a bitter lesson. He is now a bit cornered politician.
Aware of Sushil Modi’s aggressive behaviour in the House Lalu Prasad––who does not want to leave any opportunity go to throw his lot behind Nitish––chose to settle score with him by stating that he would always spread rumours.
Political observers are of the view that SuMo regretted for whatever had happened because he, and his partymen, realized his mistake.