 "Let Yogi and Nitish swap posts to bring UP model in Bihar: Rabri Devi")
Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi on Wednesday taunted Nitish Kumar, her successor, with a remark that he should swap posts with his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath, since his ally BJP was raving about the latter's model of governance and wanted to replicate it here.
The RJD leader made the comment while lambasting the current dispensation for alleged failure to maintain law and order and effectively implement prohibition despite claims of double engine government, implying that the NDA was ruling both the state and the Centre.
Who has stopped them from bringing the Yogi model to Bihar? Let Nitish Kumar go to UP and let Yogi come here as his replacement, snapped the ex-CM who was a demure housewife until the imprisonment of her husband, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, in fodder scam cases made her take the political plunge in the 1990s.
The clamour for the Yogi model has been seen in the BJP camp in Bihar ever since the monk-turned-politician created history by returning to power for a second consecutive term in UP which has for long been associated with political volatility.
On Wednesday, BJP MLA Vinay Bihari caused a flutter by expressing a personal opinion that his party should now have its own CM since Nitish Kumar, who was "spirited like Yogi when he first assumed power in 2005", was past his prime.
It is my personal opinion. The decision has to be taken by our national leadership. But it is natural for BJP members to wish that they had their own CM. After all, we are the largest party in the assembly, said Bihari.
In the 2020 assembly polls, the BJP won 74 seats, one less than the opposition RJD but many more than the chief minister's JD(U) which put up its worst-ever performance and ended up with a tally of less than 30.
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Recently, all three MLAs of the Vikassheel Insaan Party floated by former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni joined the BJP, raising the party's strength to 77, making it, for the first time in the history of the state, the largest in terms of numerical strength in the assembly.
The rise in the BJP's clout vis-a-vis Nitish Kumar has had many fallouts.
Although the septuagenarian is serving his fourth term in office and has become the longest-serving CM of Bihar, his party now has fewer cabinet berths than the BJP, which has also for the first time clinched the crucial post of the Speaker.
Besides, former Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, known as a confidant of Kumar despite having been a BJP member all through, has been shifted to the Rajya Sabha and the post is now shared by two saffron party leaders Tarkishor Prasad and Renu Devi.
Bihari was also of the view that 66-year-old Prasad, who is representing the Katihar assembly seat for the fourth time on the trot, could be a good choice (for the CM's post) given his experience and track record.
Sources in the BJP headquarters, however, frowned upon Bihari's outspokenness and pointed out that the decision to continue with Kumar as the CM was taken following the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.