By
Arun Srivastava
BJP
has tossed up a strategic fight against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
While party chief Amit Shah had promised to leave an equal number of Lok Sabha
seats for JD(U), Prime Minister Narendra Modi is totally against such
adjustment as he does not trust Nitish. But the recent political developments and
the prospects of BJP losing ground in most northern states going to polls have
made Modi view Shah’s accommodative politics more favourably.
If
sources close to top BJP leadership are to be believed, Modi has been tactfully
using Union minister Upendra Kushwaha to isolate Nitish. Kushwaha is the leader
of the backward caste Koiri arming class. He has had a running feud with
Nitish; floated RLSP after a bitter caste clash and has some senior upper caste
bhumihars with him. He can be the ideal counterfoil to Nitish provided BJP
extends support.
According
to a recent announcement, BJP and the JD(U) had agreed to contest an equal
number of seats in Bihar, out of a total number of 40 seats in the 2019 Lok
Sabha elections. This reportedly means fewer seats for the RLSP, which is an
original ally of NDA, and had won three seats in the 2014 general elections. In
fact, a fortnight ago, Kushwaha made a fervent appeal to Modi, seeking his
intervention to resolve the seat-sharing issue in Bihar NDA. He urged the PM to
‘do justice’ to RLSP as he could not meet Amit Shah. He said he was giving
additional two weeks’ time for the issue to be resolved. He said he was ready
to meet Shah at his own convenience, but reminded BJP about the deadline, which
was running out. He had set November 30 as the deadline for finalising seat
sharing.
Kushwaha
has a feeling that BJP was giving more credence to Nitish than himself, which
was unfair and also the offer on hand was not respectable. He had demanded six
seats this time as according to him RLSP’s strength has grown significantly. He
has been using various pressure tactics on BJP to concede to his demand, which
would automatically mean a reduction in the number of seats available for
Nitish’s party.
Kushwaha’s
party had won all the three seats it had contested in 2014 in Bihar with BJP.
But, with the return of JD(U) in the coalition, the equation changed. If
Kushwaha had really decided to part company with the BJP and NDA, he would have
done that in October itself. In recent months he has also been in touch with
RJD leader Tejashvi Yadav and had met Sharad Yadav. Sources said RJD was ready
to give more seats to Kushwaha than what the BJP was willing, even though the
Union Minister wanted to wait until it was clear as to how many seats each NDA
constituent was likely to get.
The
RLSP leader has set frequent deadlines and kept extending them. In fact, the
BJP leadership is also unhappy with Kushwaha. Their simple grievance is he
keeps airing his grievances before the media. He is a member of the Union
Council of Ministers. The leaders feel that he can meet the Prime Minister and
express his concerns.
The
NDA has three allies in Bihar, JD(U) of Nitish Kumar, Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP
and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP. As per the seat sharing deal struck
between BJP president Amit Shah and Nitish Kumar, both the parties are
contesting17 seats each and the remaining 6 seats were to be divided between
LJP and RLSP.
He
may not be a king maker or a chief ministerial pick, but Upendra Kushwaha can
certainly make a dent in JD(U) vote share to the benefit of BJP. More than
Nitish, Kushwaha had helped NDA to make inroads among backward castes voters in
Bihar during the 2014 elections..
Being
a middle class Hindu, Kshatriya Kushwaha represents the Kushwahas community,
which is the second largest backward caste grouping in Bihar, constituting
around seven to eight percent. Enthused by RLSP’s début performance in 2014
elections, Kushwaha’s supporters have been raising the demand to make him a
chief ministerial candidate of NDA in Bihar. Even RLSP state president Arun
Kumar had a few months back said that Kushwaha was the most capable and
deserving candidate for the post.
(IPA Service)
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