 "Nitish Kumar")
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday rushed to Delhi to quell discontent in his party, the Janata Dal (United). This followed party president Sharad Yadav virtually refusing to shift from his Lok Sabha seat, Madhepura, and implicitly threatening a split in the party, something that could cause Kumar's government in Patna to fall.
On Friday afternoon, Yadav left Patna for Delhi a bit upset. Nitish Kumar, awake to the threat this could pose to his government, rushed to Delhi, chasing after his comrade of several years. The two sat till late into the night, trying to resolve their differences. Yadav skipped a Holi get-together he and a key party functionary had organised for party MPs and media persons in Delhi on Friday evening. The party functionary claimed the two leaders had sorted all issues.
Already weakened by the severing of ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a few months ago, the JD(U) government in Bihar has the support of four Congress members of legislative Assembly (MLAs) and some independents. Now, with Yadav raising the banner of revolt, others, especially upper caste MLAs in Bihar led by Narendra Singh, have also become defiant.
The Bihar assembly has 243 MLAs; to remain in power, the least the JD(U) needs is 121. As of now, it has 118. Even if 10 MLAs decide to part ways, the government could fall.
Kumar had offered Yadav the Nalanda seat. But Yadav, who holds many grouses against Kumar, wasn't impressed. Earlier, Yadav's colleague, K C Tyagi, had joined the Kumar camp, and Yadav felt the defection was engineered by the chief minister. It is no secret that lately, Kumar has been taking all important decisions on granting tickets, making Yadav feel marginalised.
Recently, Kumar had said he was more qualified than those "roaming around" for the post of prime minister. Yadav had virtually contradicted this, saying, "These issues will be sorted after the polls, when members of Parliament will sit and choose a candidate for prime ministership of the Third Front."
After the JD (U) and the BJP parted ways in Bihar, the vacancies left by BJP ministers set off internal tussles. Not only did opposition MLAs switch to the JD(U) camp, eyeing these posts, it also disturbed the fragile caste balance in the Nitish Kumar government.
