A Crown Of Thorns

Anyone who knows the P of politics knew that this was going to be Nitish Kumar’s toughest term yet. But, perhaps, even he could not have anticipated how fast the challenges would emerge after taking oath as Bihar chief minister for the fourth consecutive time. The JD(U) stalwart appears to be on a sticky wicket this time, thanks to the resurgence of not only the Opposition but also an emboldened ally, which has the upper hand due to its numerical strength in the assembly.

Nitish has not had a similar experience in the past. In all previous terms, he enjoyed a comfortable-to-brute majority, to be able to dictate terms to his allies and also treat his rivals as anything but formidable. Now, his clout appears to have considerably reduced, with his party winning only 43 seats in the 243-member House. In fact, he appears to be facing the heat from the word go.

The BJP, which has 74 MLAs of its own, bowled its first googly to the embattled chief minister by fielding two new deputy chief ministers, Tarkishore Prasad Singh and Renu Devi, relegating his trusted, long-time deputy Sushil Kumar Modi to the sidelines. The saffron party apparently wants its senior ministers to look Nitish in the eye without any baggage of the past. Sushil was obviously considered to be unequal to the task due to his perceived closeness to the CM.

Besides, none of the 15 new ministers who took oath belongs to the minority community, which is apparently at variance with Nitish’s avowed politics of inclusive politics. Political observers look at these developments as a tell-tale sign of his diminished stature within the alliance.

Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who led a spirited campaign to give NDA a run for its money in the polls, stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony, accusing NDA of hijacking the people’s mandate. LJP president Chirag Paswan, who played spoilsport to Nitish by fielding candidates against JD(U), was also mocking in his message.

Nitish’s new ministry also got emb­roiled in a controversy over the appointment of JD(U)’s tainted, two-term MLA Mewalal Choudhary as the education minister. Choudhary had faced corruption charges during his tenure as the vice chancellor of Bihar Agricultural University between 2010-15. After an FIR was lodged, the JD(U) had suspended him for a while. Sushil Modi had also called for his arrest. Choudhary has remained silent on the allegations.

Way back in 2005, Nitish had taken no time to drop Jitan Ram Manjhi from his ministry soon after the swearing-in when he came to know that he had been chargesheeted in the BEd scam, which had taken place during the previous RJD regime. Manjhi, now his ally, was subsequently allowed to join the ministry only after he was acquitted from the court two years later.

But those were the different times for Nitish. He is no longer the man of the house.