Patna,(BiharTimes): Post, position, bungalow etc everything is more or less same yet the universe has turned to mighty stranger for Janata Dal (United) ministers and leaders.
Till July 27 many of them have been blaming alliance partner Lalu Prasad Yadav for not letting the government function smoothly. Forty days later they are feeling the situation much more suffocating though even the chief minister belongs to their own party.
Though national and state spokesmen K C Tyagi and Ajay Alok meekly defended PM’s prerogative in reshuffling the cabinet, in private they are finding themselves high and dry. The issue is just not the meagre allotment for flood victims of Bihar, reported cancellation of PM’s lunch in Patna on the eve of August 26 visit to Bihar or non-induction of any JD(U) minister in the Union ministry.
What worries the partymen is loss of manoeuvring capability of chief minister Nitish Kumar who is not at all asserting before the same BJP with whom he had earlier worked for 17 long years both in Centre and
state. “If Lalu Prasad was seeking his pound of flesh in cabinet and appointments of chairpersons of Boards and Corporations or transfer of officials Nitish Kumar is finding his hands getting tied. It is to be
seen how he fares in weeks and months to come,” said an analyst.
As the BJP is talking from a position of strength will JD(U) assert itself at the time of seat arrangement in the next Lok Sabha election which is 20 months from now? This is the question haunting many in JD(U).
In 2014 NDA had won 31 out of 40 seats in Bihar. While BJP won 22, the LJP and RLSP bagged six and three seats respectively. As it is difficult to drop the sitting MPs or leave less number of seats for LJP and RLSP how would JD(U) be adjusted? Will it be satisfied with just nine seats?
Poliitical observers are of the view that if this would be the case it would be a big fall in JD(U)’s stature as in the past the party always used to contest more seats than the BJP.
And if the NDA performs well in 2019 Lok Sabha election the bargaining position of JD(U) in the 2020 Assembly election would be much more reduced. This would be very much different from the 2015 Assembly election in which borth RJD and JD(U) contested on equal footing. It is this future political prospect which is bothering the JD(U) legislators as well as leaders and workers.
