PATNA, Dec 26: The opposition RJD in Bihar on Thursday said it was ready for yet another realignment with chief minister Nitish Kumar if the JD(U) president showed willingness to snap ties with the BJP which represented “communal forces.”
RJD president Lalu Prasad’s close aide and MLA Bhai Virendra made this remark in response to queries from journalists in Khagaria district.
“Bihar has been witness to many political games and more such games could be played in future”, the MLA remarked, when asked whether he saw the possibility of a “khela” in the wake of perceived tensions between the JD(U) and the BJP.
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Probed further, Bhai Virendra said, “Politics is all about possibilities. If Nitish Kumar grows fed up with communal forces and decides he has had enough of the BJP, we will decide (on aligning with JD(U)”.
In the state capital, RJD spokesman Mrityunay Tieari echoed similar views.
He said “What is the big deal? The BJP realigned with Nitish Kumar a year ago, not long after Amit Shah had declared that the doors were shut on him. At least, our leaders have never resorted to such empty rhetoric. Let a situation arise, and a decision will be taken accordingly”.
The opposition party’s bid to fish in troubled waters comes in the backdrop of a cryptic stance taken by Shah, who recently did not categorically deny that in Bihar the NDA will not repeat the strategy it had adopted in Maharashtra, where the BJP-led alliance went to polls without a face.
Leaders of the JD(U), which shares power with the BJP at the Centre too, have refrained from directly addressing the issue with their ally, but there have been subtle displays of dissatisfaction. A poster recently released on the party’s X handle was captioned “Jab Bihar Ki Baat Ho to Naam Sirf Nitish Kumar Ka Ho”.
BJP leaders in Bihar have been, on their part, at pains to allay misgivings, asserting that Kumar will “lead” the NDA in the 2025 assembly polls.
On Wednesday, Union Minister Giriraj Singh, formerly seen as a detractor of Kumar, showered praises on the JD(U) supremo, stating that the latter deserved a “Bharat Ratna”.
However, around the same time a slip-up by Vijay Kumar Sinha, one of the two deputy CMs, has added fresh grist to the mill.
Addressing a function held on Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birth anniversary, Sinha said in Bihar “only after the BJP forms its own government” would the dream of the former Prime Minister be realised.
JD(U) leaders have so far refrained from expressing displeasure over the statement.
BJP sources, requesting anonymity, said much should not be read into the utterances of Sinha, “who never said the party wants to form its own government in Bihar in 2025 itself”.
Meanwhile, RJD sources also claimed that the choice of a “blatantly pro-BJP” Arif Mohammad Khan as the new governor of Bihar has also not gone down well with a section of JD(U) leaders. (PTI)
