Patna To Bengaluru: How Nitish Kumar Plays A Central Role In Opposition Alliance

In the last few months, Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar had been holding one-on-one meetings with various parties’ chiefs to unite the Opposition for the 2024 Lok Sabha battle.

His efforts bore fruits and despite differences among different parties on various issues, 15 major political parties met at the Anne Marg bungalow of Nitish Kumar in Patna last month.

Though no groundbreaking decision was taken in the meeting, for the first time it showed that political parties are ready to fight together despite their differences. They held a press conference after the meeting and all agreed to be united in their fight.

Congress in that meeting proposed to host a second meeting which was initially scheduled in Shimla but is now happening in Bangalore on Monday and Tuesday. Twenty-four political parties have accepted the invitation for the meeting. It is believed that seat sharing and other important issues will be sorted out in the meeting.

Despite apprehensions and differences between a few political parties, Opposition unity appears to be a foreseeable reality. So, the question now is, what role will Nitish Kumar be playing in the opposition parties alliance in the coming days?

Nitish Kumar has been infamous for his changing alliance. In eight years, he has changed the alliance three times. Last time, he broke the Janata Dal (United) alliance with BJP in August 2022 and joined hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left parties, forming a Mahagathbandhan.

Since then he has been eyeing national politics. Though rumour often surfaces that he may change alliance again, it seems Nitish Kumar is not planning to change sides till the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Last week, the political corridor of Patna was abuzz with a rumour that Nitish Kumar may quit the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) and join National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The rumour surfaced due to a CBI charge sheet against deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav in a 'Land For Job' case. In 2017, when RJD and JD(U) were in government, CBI and ED had started the case against Tejashwi Yadav. That time Nitish Kumar had asked Tejashwi to resign from the deputy chief minister post until he came clean, but that didn’t happen and Nitish left Mahagathbandhan and formed a government with BJP.

Unlike 2017, this time things seem different. Despite growing pressure from BJP to get Tejashwi to resign from the deputy chief minister post, Nitish Kumar accompanied Tejashwi Yadav to the Assembly's monsoon session in his car, sending a clear message that the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar is strong. On the other hand, JD(U) leaders attacked BJP for misusing investigating agencies. JD(U) national president Lalan Singh said, “We knew that this would happen. This started when Mahagathbandhan was formed again in August 2022 and we became a part of it.”

"When Tejashwi Yadav is joining Mahagathbandhan, a chargesheet is being filed in a matter which was probed twice by CBI and dismissed. Everyone knows what the Centre is doing," he added.

Another JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said that the timing of the chargesheet had been decided keeping in mind the unity of opposition parties.

Given the political manoeuvring done by Nitish in uniting the Opposition, it is clear that he will be playing an important role in the coming days no matter if he gets any big position in the Opposition alliance or not.

“Two leaders, Sharad Pawar and Nitish Kumar, were given tasks to unite opposition parties, but after cracks in Sharad Pawar’s own party, the importance of Nitish Kumar has increased. From seat sharing to other important issues, the decisions will be taken taking Nitish Kumar into confidence,” Santosh Singh, Patna-based senior journalist of Indian Express told Outlook.

Nitish Kumar, in his more than three-decade-long political career, has remained part of both the NDA and the UPA (United Progressive Alliance), so he has easy access to all the political parties. “This is why Congress has given him the responsibility to talk to different parties, and in future as well Nitish Kumar will work on bringing in more parties,” Singh says.

A JD(U) leader who wished to remain anonymous told Outlook, "Other leaders have regional presence but Nitishji is acceptable to all parties. He is known to bring sushasan (good governance) in Bihar. He also played a major role in bringing together opposition parties. So, we are confident that he will be given the responsibility to lead the Opposition against Modi."

Political analysts believe that Nitish Kumar, who has served Bihar for 18 years and he is the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar, has nothing new to offer for the state, so he now wants to try his hands at national politics before he retires and 2023 has given him that opportunity.

Political analyst Mahendra Suman says, "I think Nitish Kumar wants to be remembered as a leader who fought against BJP and that is why he is trying to unite the opposition."

According to him, Hindutva politics can be countered only through samajik nyay (social justice) and Bihar has been known for social justice. This is why Bihar took the initiative to unite the Opposition against the Hindutva politics of BJP.

Patna-based journalist Dipak Mishra says, “Nitish Kumar is now eying on national politics. If he leads the united opposition then he will be established in national politics even if the united opposition does not win.”

However, Santosh Singh believes that announcing any single leader to lead the Opposition will be risky so there is little chance of such an announcement until all stakeholders are agreed on a single name.

"I don’t think Congress will take a risk by announcing Nitish Kumar as the convenor of opposition parties because there are many leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and MK Stalin who may not accept it and walk out of the alliance."

"But even if Nitish Kumar is not officially made convenor, he will discharge that responsibility unofficially," he said.

Nitish Kumar's name as a potential PM candidate has been floating since 2012 when he was with NDA. At that time, he had denied any wish to be the prime minister. But in June 2013, when Narendra Modi was announced prime ministerial candidate, Nitish left NDA and said, "People of the country will not tolerate or accept a leader whose idea and policy is divisive." Later, Nitish shared dice with PM Modi and praised him on many occasions after he became part of the NDA in 2017.

"So, it is not just for national ambition but also the love-hate relationship with Narendra Modi that Nitish is on a mission to unite the Opposition," another JD(U) leader said.