The back and forth between the Congress and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) in recent days, flowing from their differences over the choice of candidate in the presidential election, can’t be deemed a breakdown of relations by any yardstick that governs political relations between allies, although this is the view of some people. Undoubtedly, the careless flinging of words of criticism of Mr Kumar by senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was unwarranted. But this doesn’t imply that the Congress is an obstacle to the Opposition parties joining forces to challenge the BJP. That appears too exaggerated an interpretation advanced by Mr Kumar, who seems to forget he owes his current position to the politics played by the Congress before the Bihar Assembly polls in 2015 which the BJP lost. At the risk of annoying long-time partner RJD, led by Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Congress indicated its preference for Mr Kumar after he broke with the BJP, although the ties between Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav were frosty. No one spoke about the sabotage of Opposition unity then.
As the Bihar CM backed the BJP’s choice of Ram Nath Kovind as its presidential candidate, Mr Azad virtually called him an opportunist. Since this was coming from the smallest party in Bihar’s governing alliance, it was to be expected that Mr Kumar would return the compliment. Since then, both sides seem to have agreed to pull back. That makes sense. Whether personal ties between Mr Kumar and Mr Azad will smoothen over easily can’t be determined yet. But on Monday both the Congress and JD(U) issued public statements stressing the primacy of continuing the Bihar alliance government. The RJD too has stressed this in recent days.
It is something of a mystery why reports magnifying differences within the Bihar ruling coalition are being aired frequently Differences doubtless persist. The RJD and JD(U) are both from the Lohia stream of politics, but found themselves on opposite sides of the divide over the issue of partnering the RSS-BJP. It is only recently that they have joined hands against the BJP. The Congress is, historically, in an unfamiliar position. In different states it is coming to terms with regional parties that had been its opponents when it was the hegemon. As for the presidential election, Mr Kumar went with the BJP’s choice in an effort to win over the Koli segment of Bihar’s mahadalits, to which community the BJP’s candidate belongs in UP. As for the Congress, if it hadn’t chosen a dalit candidature of stature like Ms Meira Kumar, the BSP’s Mayawati too would have gone with the BJP in the presidential election. Mr Kumar should consider that.
