The political temperature in Bihar has been rising with the reports of an internal feud in Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United). It’s a well-known fact in the political circle that Nitish Kumar deals with an iron hand to anyone who goes against him or his party. The new to the list is JD(U)’s national president Lalan Singh, as per various reports. Below are the 10 key developments we know so far:
1. According to reports, about a dozen JDU MLAs recently held a meeting without the knowledge of Nitish Kumar. The Bihar CM was irked when came to know about the meeting. It was said that the meeting was held on behalf of Lalan Singh.
2. The JDU is holding its national executive meeting in Delhi today where decisions related to the political future of Lalan Singh may be decided. While the agenda of the meeting has not been announced, Kumar is likely to take several key decisions today, said reports.
3. Speculations have started floating in the political circles that Nitish Kumar is angry with JDU President Lalan Singh. Some are citing Lalan Singh’s closeness to the Lalu family as the reason behind Nitish’s displeasure while others are saying that the reason behind this is JDU’s failure to put forward a strong stand in the INDIA alliance.
4. Noteworthy to mention that in the fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc, Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal put forward Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s name for the PM post and convenor of the opposition alliance. This reportedly upset Kumar who was said to be harbouring a national ambition.
5. It’s being said that if Lalan Singh had been successful in presenting JDU’s point strongly on the platform of INDIA Alliance, then Nitish Kumar would have either been declared the PM face or would have been seen as the convenor. But none of that happened. Even Lalu Yadav did not endorse Nitish Kumar’s name in the meeting.
6. It’s also being reported that Lalan Singh has proposed to resign from the post of JDU’s national president after Nitish Kumar’s anger. However, the JDU has not issued any official statement in this regard. Talking to reporters today, Lalan Singh said that Nitish Kumar is the leader of the JDU and the party is united and will remain united. He also refuted the reports of his resignation.
7. On the other hand, the BJP has gone all gun blazing against the JDU and Nitish Kumar. BJP MP Giriraj Singh said that Nitish Kumar is a guest (as a CM) for only a few days now. “Lalu ji has created a Chakravyuh and Nitish is trapped in it…Now Lalu ji will not let Nitish remain the Chief Minister and soon Kumar will become a former Chief Minister….It is certain that RJD will make its leader the Chief Minister but Nitish does not want to make Tejashwi the Chief Minister,” claimed Giriraj Singh.
8. Earlier, Giriraj Singh had claimed that soon JDU will merge into Lalu Yadav’s RJD. Reacting to this, Tejashwi Yadav said that Singh makes such a statement to remain in the news.
9. While it has become clear that INDIA bloc leaders are not eager to accept Nitish Kumar’s name for big posts, the Bihar CM has also appears to have realised this despite Kumar saying time and again that he is not vying for any post. It may be recalled that CM Kumar personally met opposition leaders ahead of the INDIA bloc formation and tried to bring all opposition leaders on one platform.
10. The JDU and RJD are said to have finalized their seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls. While the two parties will contest on 17 seats each, Congress has been given four seats and the Left parties two seats. The JDU may take its Lok Sabha poll strategy during the two-day national executive meeting as well.
Bureau Report
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