(Bihar Times): Nitish Kumar’s assertion that it is the chief minister’s prerogative to drop minister or reshuffle the cabinet has confirmed that it is not the deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, who is entirely to blame for what is going wrong with the state BJP after April 13 shake up. And if the BJP dissidents are putting all the blames on Modi it is simply because they either can not dare to take on the chief minister directly in this election year or have some other score to settle with Modi.

Reports started appearing in newspapers from Delhi that the central leadership of the BJP is extremely upset with Janata Dal (United) for making unreasonable demand in Karnataka and for systematically destroying the BJP in Bihar. Leaders like Kalraj Mishra are of the view that Nitish is doing what Mayawati did in Uttar Pradesh when the BJP was in alliance with the BSP. What angers the BJP central leadership is that the deputy chief minister Modi chose to play into the hands of the much shrewd chief minister rather than stand up amd resist for the large interest of the party.

The BJP dissidents like Baleshwar Singh Bharti is quoted as to having said that the expansion suits the Janata Dal (United) more than BJP. Top BJP dissidents say that how can it be that portfolios of party stalwarts like Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Nand Kishore Yadav, who in fact is also the state NDA convernor, be changed withour prior information and Chandra Mohan Rai and Janardan Singh Sigriwal simply thrown out of the cabinet. “Nitish Kumar can not disown the responsibility. In fact on Monday he accepted that it was his prerogative to change the ministry,” feels a political observer.

The BJP, which is facing the worst crisis in its Bihar and Maharsahtra since its inception 28 years ago is paying the price of playing second fiddle both to Janata Dal (United) and Shiv Sena respectively. On paper it may certainly be a much bigger cadre-based and disciplined party, but in both these two states it is in turmoil and is likely to face its consequences in the coming parliamentary election.

Political observers feel that the Janata Dal (United) has bitten more than it can chew. It sounds unnatural for a party to be in power with a right-wing party for the last so many years, both in Centre and state, yet call for an alliance among the Muslims, Upper Caste Hindus and Dalits. It remains a million dollars question as to why Nitish––though so comfortably placed with 144 seats in the Assembly of 243––is deliberately going for some other caste and social combination and disturbing the delicate equation, which brought him to power. If he is suddenly reminded of the secular credential and now thinks that the BJP is really an anathema he should have distanced himself long back.

Changing the social and caste arithmetic midway is fraught with risk. It is difficult to say whether Nitish will succeed in adopting Mayawati’s strategy of pushing the BJP back to wall. But the UP chief minister has an advantage. Its support base is 22 per cent Dalits of that state, which is always solidly behind her. Unlike Nitish, who is trying to change the horse in the mid-stream, Mayawati always had a clear-cut idea about the goal.

Nitish needs to understand that good administrator––if he is so––does not always make good politician. Between 1984 and 1988 the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was on the top of the world. He was Mr Clean of the Indian politics, had successfully signed peace agreement with the students’ of Assam, Laldenga of Mizoram, Akali leader Harcharan Singh Longwal of Punjab and was leading India into the 21st century. He even tried to take the wind out of the sail of the BJP’s Ram Janambhoomi movement. But he failed to overcome one political crisis caused by Bofors. A year later in 1989 he was routed out of office.

Nitish needs to be careful that he does not fall between the two stools––the one on which he is standing and the other on which he is trying to go.

(The author is a Patna-based free-lance journalist.)