Patna,(BiharTimes): By undertaking a 24-hour long fast a day ahead of RJD’s long proposed march to Raj Bhawan on March 1 chief minister Nitish Kumar raised several questions in the political circle.Analysts are asking as to what prompted Nitish to “seize the initiative” when Lalu Prasad had already announced his march a couple of months ago. Nitish made the announcement of fast on March 1 at the Janata Dal (United) workers rally in Gandhi Maidan.
It would be difficult to say which of the two shows––of Nitish or Lalu––evoked a better response. But one thing is clear any such move by Nitish may affect the relationship between the JD(U) and RJD, especially when the former is badly in need of latter’s support.
Not only that: Lalu is under intense pressure from his party leaders like Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Pappu Yadav––the latter made a token presence in the march––to maintain distance from Nitish Kumar and adopt a soft approach towards former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi.
True the issue of mega-merger of the parties of the Janata Parivar has been put on the back burners, still the fact is that today Nitish needs Lalu as much as the latter needs the former.Nitish has committed a series of political mistakes in the last couple of years, and he can not afford to commit any more now.
True the parties of Janata Parivar organized a ‘maha-dharna’ on almost the same issues last December. But much water has flown in the Ganga since then. Bihar watchers are of the view that there is no problem in two parties organizing there agitation on the same issue differently.
The only problem is the manner in which the JD(U) fast was hurriedly organized a day ahead of RJD. “If
both the parties are united on the issue of fighting the BJP, they should at least avoid any such thing which sends wrong signal to the rank and file of their respective party. For this Nitish will have to take extra care,” commented an observer on the condition of anonymity.Nitish needs to accept the fact that though Lalu is out of power, in one to one contest he can still woo a much bigger crowd. After all the RJD-led alliance got around 30 per cent votes in the last Lok Sabha poll against 17 per cent by JD(U)-CPI combine.
