Patna: Embattled Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar began his own poll preparations on Wednesday as the chances of his party’s alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) looked bleak — there’s an ongoing tussle between the two parties over leadership. The ruling Janata Dal (United), headed by Kumar, has been trying to force the RJD to declare him the chief ministerial candidate — a demand which has been shot down so far.
Today, Kumar kicked off a 14-day party’s programme to hold meetings with all district unit chiefs, office bearers and top party leaders at his official residence in Patna. According to sources, the chief minister is seeking the counsel of the leaders about his options should the alliance between JD-U and the RJD not work out. On the first day of the programme, Kumar held closed-door meetings with leaders of five north Bihar districts: East and West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar and Madhubani.
During the interaction, the chief minister told the party leaders to get ready for “any situation” and gave them tips on how to counter aggressive campaigns by opposition, BJP, in the upcoming elections, which are scheduled to be held in September-October. Kumar also sought feedback from the leaders about the performance of his government.
Kumar’s meetings with party leaders comes amid a bitter verbal duel between the two prominent secular parties over the issue of who will the lead the proposed alliance in the upcoming state polls. The verbal spat took a turn for the worst today with JD-U saying that an alliance was not possible until Kumar is declared the chief minister candidate.
“No other leader except for Nitish Kumar is acceptable to us. Whether the alliance takes place or not, Kumar will be our leader,” a JD-U lawmaker Sivaji Rai told the media, upon emerging from a meeting with the chief minister on Wednesday.
Another lawmaker Razia Khatoon made a similar declaration. “We know only Kumar as our leader and we will go [to the] polls under his leadership. He has done good works for the state,” she said.
“Our party’s thinking is very clear that only Kumar will be the leader of the alliance. The RJD should understand that we will not compromise over the issue of leadership. None can replace him,” state JD-U president Vashisht Narayan Singh told media yesterday.
The RJD party reacted bitterly, accusing the JD-U of putting up roadblock on the way of an alliance. “The JD-U can’t dictate over who will be the leader of the alliance. They are putting up roadblocks on the way of alliance through their stubbornness,” said RJD’s national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, considered very close to party chief Lalu Prasad.
In a curious twist, the Congress has sided with the JD-U, demanding that Kumar be projected as the chief ministerial candidate, further complicating the situation.
