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Patna,(BiharTimes): After the election results of two states political observers are debating whether it was a setback for the BJP or Congress. No doubt Narendra Modi performed a hat-trick, but the BJP has to suffer defeat in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of Congress.
But the election results had its reverberations in Bihar whose chief minister, a couple of days before the results was announced, told the media, rather surprisingly, that the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha election would be from the largest constituent of the National Democratic Alliance, that is, Bharatiya Janata Party. |
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Thus in a way Nitish Kumar has conceded that he would have no objection if the BJP puts up Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate.
If that is what Nitish had to say now than why so much fuss about the Gujarat chief minister’s candidature. Ever since the cancellation of June 12, 2010 dinner of the BJP top brass in Patna (during its national executive meet) and later returning Rs five crore Kosi flood donation to Gujarat, Nitish Kumar and his party leaders have relentlessly been campaigning against the Gujarat counterpart.
He even tried to fish in the troubled waters of the BJP politics and waved green flag to Lal Krishna Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra on Oct 11, 2011. Even when the campaigning for the Presidential election was at its peak Nitish Kumar came out with a very unusual remarks. He raised the issue of prime ministerial candidate when everyone was discussing the presidential candidate.
There are two ways of looking at all these remarks and actions of Janata Dal (United), the oldest secular constituent of the NDA, and the party which was first to give secular legitimacy to the Hindutva brigade.
According to the first way these statements were totally uncalled for, misplaced and some would say absurd. Bihar’s fishing and animal husbandry minister, Giriraj Singh and health minister Ashwini Choubey, would dub them so.
There is another way of looking at the whole development. And this is the way the RJD and LJP view it. They are of the opinion that Nitish has been doing all these deliberately to facilitate Narendra Modi as it was he who kept the issue of prime ministerial candidate alive.
RJD chief Lalu Yadav has repeatedly been saying so. The shadow-boxing was done just to befool the people in general and secular elements and Muslims in particular.
Anyway the Gujarat election is out and the bargaining position of the BJP in Bihar has certainly gone up.
Nitish, who chose to go beyond Gujarat, that is, to Pakistan, did not find time to campaign in that western Indian state. But what is strange is that he did not allow Narendra Modi to campaign in Bihar too. On June 12, 2010 his government put up Modi and Lal Krishna Advani in the state guest house, when all the other leaders of the BJP were staying in hotel, but Nitish was suddenly reminded of cancelling the dinner the same afternoon.
Independent political observers are of the view that Nitish Kumar was never a prime ministerial candidate as his party, Janata Dal (United), can not win a single seat outside Bihar or Jharkhand. Even in Jharkhand the party’s tally has come down from five to two in the last Assembly election in that state.
Nitish has just been doing all these to consolidate his own position as the chief minister of Bihar––and has nothing to do with the prime ministerial ambition. By keeping Modi at bay he wanted to collect more and more Muslim votes. And at the same time it helped polarise the atmosphere and keep the BJP strong.
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