By
Arun Srivastava
RJD
leader Tejashvi Yadav dashing to Lucknow for meeting SP chief Akhilesh Yadav
and BSP chief Mayawati and asserting that this alliance would wreck the ship of
BJP in the 2019 elections has caused uneasiness in Congress. The Lucknow
meetings have given rise to the feeling that Tejashvi was also not comfortable
with Congress. It is believed that he has refrained from airing his views only
for the sake of his father, who is in favour of a strong relation with
Congress.
Lalu’s
political perception is quite different from that of Mayawati. For him no
anti-BJP alliance can be floated without Congress. The reason for Mayawati to
oppose Congress is that the young dalit leaders are too willing to share the
dais with the Congress. During the Gujarat assembly elections the dalits
extended complete support to Congress. Even in the elections to the three
states of Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh, they rallied behind Congress along
with the upper caste people. Some observers look at this development as the
revival of the old political equation of upper castes plus dalits. In fact, the
Congress leadership is quite pleased with this prospect.
But
Mayawati is scared of this scenario. With emerging young dalit leaders already
rejecting her claim of being the dalit icon, she is scared that an alliance
with Congress would simply provide more credibility to the Congress as
representing dalits. Notwithstanding Mayawati and Akhilesh burying the 25 year
old feud, the rank and file of both the parties and their support base at the
village level are reluctant to embrace each other. The ground level situation
is more akin to what prevails in Bihar. Apprehensions are that the younger
leaders will play a crucial role in shifting this support base away from
Mayawati.
Meanwhile
in a significant development, RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad
Singh Wednesday said his party will contest the Lok Sabha polls in alliance
with Congress in Bihar, and that the leader of UPA will be decided after the
election results. Singh also went against Tejashvi’s line on reservation for
upper castes. The party had to do a “balancing act” since it will field a few
upper caste candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. In an about-turn on the party’s
stand on 10 per reservation for economically weaker sections in general
category, Singh said it was a “mistake” for the party to vote against the Bill
in Parliament. He said party chief Lalu Prasad has told him that the RJD has
not been opposed to reservation for the poor among upper caste communities.
Singh
also played down talks of any strained relation with the Congress, especially
after Tejashwi’s meetings with Mayawati and Akhilesh. Some RJD leaders do not
find any fault with Tejashvi calling on them as this may simply have been a
courtesy call and nothing must be read between the lines.
Meanwhile,
Nitish Kumar’s revelation that Prasant Kishor, the number two in the party,
will succeed him has raised eye brows. Though a large section of the leaders
are already enraged with him for “behaving like a senior leader” this is also
being interpreted as Nitish’s admission of defeat. As if this was not enough
Nitish also said he had inducted Kishor at the directive of BJP president Amit
Shah, who is claimed to have called him twice asking for Kishor’s induction.
Questions
are being raised as to why a person like Nitish should serve subservient to
Shah. There are suggestions that this may have been done since Kishor is a
Brahmin and by inducting him Nitish was bringing about a change in the
political character of the party. He has come to the conclusion that in the
present situation as the OBCs and dalits are reluctant to vote him, he must
find a new pasture and that could be the upper caste. In comparison to any of
the BJP leaders he is the most accepted face amongst them. Besides, the urban
middle class still likes him notwithstanding the decline of his image of being
an able administrator.
His
decision has also shaken the BJP. Some BJP leaders said Kishor “needed to be
shown his place in the party”. Sources maintain that the BJP has taken the
latest move of Nitish very seriously and sought a clarification as to whether
he really intends to lead NDA in Bihar. (IPA
Service)
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