Patna,(BiharTimes): Exactly two decades after parting ways with Lalu Yadav and one year after doing the same with the Bharatiya Janata Party former chief minister Nitish Kumar on June 14 openly appealed to the RJD supremo to support two Rajya Sabha candidates of ruling Janata Dal (United), Pawan Kumar Verma and Ghulam Rasool Balyawi.

It was in June 1994 that several Janata Dal leaders led by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar quit the party and later, on October 19 the same year, formed the Samata Party at a big rally in Gandhi Maidan. Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan were till then with Lalu Prasad Yadav. 

But a year after breaking his 17 years long association with the BJP Nitish was reminded of the importance of the coming together of the anti-BJP forces to foil the saffron party’s design. This, in itself, amounts to acknowledging the fact that the BJP is strong and Janata Dal (United) weak.

In 1990s the same Nitish would call for the coming together of all the anti-Lalu forces to unite under the banner of the NDA. So the BJP, Samata Party, LJP and Bihar Peoples Party came together––the last named later vanished. This in itself was acceptance that the anti-Lalu forces were then weak.

By the same logic Nitish is now accepting the fact that his former ally, the BJP, is strong and there is need to join hands with arch-rival, the RJD. This is something unusual as in the last 20 years he had never said anything appreciative about his Bade Bhai. 

Similarly, during the election campaign Nitish strongly criticized the Congress and blamed it for all the problems the country is facing. Yet on June 14 he openly sought the support of the Congress too.

But Nitish is not just taking the help to ensure the victory of two political lightweights––Pawan Verma and Balyawi––and that only for just two years for the Upper House of Parliament.

He said something more too, that is, the saffron party is destabilizing the Jitan Ram Manjhi government, therefore, all the non-BJP parties should back it. 

A political observer summed up the whole story in a Hindi maxim: “Waqt parne par Gadhe ko bhi baap kahna parta hai.” (In the time of crisis one even pays fatherly respect to donkey). So Nitish played an opportunistic politics, though he may go on to claim that he is a man of principle. 

What Nitish did on June 14 is something very unusual in politics––only Ram Vilas Paswan can match him. Even his bête noire Lalu Prasad Yadav never changed the gear so suddenly though after 2000 Assembly election Rabri Devi could become the chief minister only after the support of 25 MLAs of the Congress after the first Nitish government fell within a week. As a compromise Rabri Devi had to induct all the Congress legislators into the cabinet.

But then in 2000 the RJD-Congress relationship was not as bad as between JD(U) and RJD today, therefore, the latest development came as a big surprise.

Nitish’s strategy in the Lok Sabha election back-fired. By attacking Narendra Modi too much, after being so close to the BJP for 17 years, he only ended up making the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate much more strong. Once again by going to the extent of seeking support of the RJD Nitish is making it clear that his party is weak. This very acceptance of the fact is a victory for the BJP. It is feeling more emboldened now.