The recent decision of Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar to assume the reins of presidency of his regional party offers the first indication, albeit in a somewhat understated manner, that Mr Kumar is looking to raise his stature by making a foray on the national stage.
Since BJP’s emergence as a pole player in Indian politics, it has been generally thought that the national-level political rivalry is still destined to be played out between this party of the Hindu Right and the Congress, although the fortunes of the former hegemon of Indian politics have shrunk conspicuously. Mr Kumar being made JD(U) president last Sunday is suggestive of a well-plotted intervention on this chessboard.
Evidently the Bihar leader is readying himself to build up his party by roping in as many elements as possible of the former Janata Party (JP), which briefly was the ruling entity at the Centre, and emerge as the principal challenger to the BJP; in short, preparing in earnest not to cede that space automatically to the Congress.
Naturally, much would depend on how the Congress fights its future campaigns. If it is able to give a credible account of itself in the UP Assembly election next year, the party may expect to retain its position as BJP’s key opponent, not letting any regional party wrench that status from it.
But it would need to keep its eyes open to the possibility that its Bihar ally may be seeking to upstage it nationally even if the JD(U) and the Congress forge an electoral understanding in UP, for UP is likely to be a mere a stop on the journey to Delhi that the JD(U) under Mr Kumar appears to aspire to undertake.
The JP had four constituents: the now extinct Congress (O), the Socialist group operating under multiple labels, the prominent peasant leader and former Prime Minister Charan Singh’s Lok Dal (LD), and the Jana Sangh (forerunner of the BJP). The socialists are now riven. After all, UP’s pole leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bihar’s Lalu Prasad Yadav, once Mr Kumar’s confreres in the socialist stream, may not desire to play second fiddle to him.
As for Lok Dal, it is less than a pale shadow of its original self under Ajit Singh. Mr Kumar is thus starting with a “Janata Party minus” hand. It does not look like too promising a start. However, the results of the UP Assembly poll in 2017 will put things in perspective and let all aspirants for Prime Minister from the North know where they stand, and this includes Rahul Gandhi, the presumed pretender from the Congress camp. Mr Kumar becoming his party’s president will give him the formal authority under Election Commission rules to take the consequential decisions for his party.
