Why Is The bjp Evasive On nitish kumar As The cm Face For The bihar Polls?
A conundrum is unfolding inside the countrywide Democratic Alliance (NDA) in bihar, a political riddle woven into the ever-shifting alliances of the nation.
On february 24, prime minister Narendra Modi, together with his function flourish, defined bihar chief minister nitish kumar as 'Laadla Mukhyamantri'—a term of endearment in reality, however, one which stopped conspicuously quick of the grand anointment the Janata Dal (United) had been hoping for.
JD(U) leaders had expected a definitive statement from Nitish because the coalition's chief ministerial candidate for the approaching meeting elections, as an alternative, was what came from the bjp, which became ambiguous. If one were to decode the BJP's statements, the picture is hazy. The approaching polls will, with absolute confidence, be contested below Nitish's leadership, but will he be formally declared the NDA's chief ministerial candidate?
That query hangs within the air, unanswered, at the same time as Nitish, seventy-four, is visibly getting ready for yet another time period. Bihar's caste calculus indicates the JD(U) and bjp, alongside allies chirag paswan, Jitan ram Manjhi, and upendra Kushwaha, may want to strike a powerful electoral majority. But elections are by no means simply mathematics; chemistry plays its function. And the actual query lingers—is Nitish nonetheless the beneficiary of an enduring goodwill, or has the law of diminishing returns stuck up with him?
For the bjp, the stakes couldn't be higher. Nitish's presence in the nda is imperative. The JD(U)'s 12 lok sabha MPs are not a commodity to be lightly cast apart. yet, unequivocally backing him because the coalition's
chief ministerial candidate for bihar contains its own dangers—particularly the alienation of the BJP's greater ideologically rigid saffron base.
Nitish has been the lynchpin of Bihar's political panorama since 2005, with main coalitions for four consecutive assembly poll victories and 3 wins in the last four lok sabha polls. But he now does not wield the unchallenged authority he once did.
The JD(U), although outwardly constrained, has been unmistakably expectant. The party can also have held its tongue; however, Nitish's son Nishant Kumar—until now a political recluse—spoke these days with notable readability. An afternoon after Modi's bhagalpur rally,
Nishant publicly encouraged his father's management, pressing the nda to make a formal statement. The subtext changed into inescapable; mere phrases might not suffice.
The current bihar cabinet enlargement was the simplest introduced to the unease. After an extended put-off, Nitish inducted seven ministers—all from the BJP. Whilst the reshuffle adhered to the prearranged seat-sharing components (21 berths for the bjp, thirteen for the JD(U), and the remainder for junior allies), the optics had been inescapable: for the first time since 2005, Nitish had been pressured to perform with a totally packed cabinet, a sign of his diminishing leverage. The BJP's inclusion of a minister from the Kurmi caste—Nitish's own community—and another from the Kushwaha bloc, a key OBC constituency that the JD(U) has long courted, underscored the quiet recalibrations underway.
Sensing a possibility, the opposition pounced. The leader of the competition in the legislative assembly, Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), sharpened his assault in the course of the meeting's budget consultation, proclaiming that Nitish might no longer return to the residence as leader minister after 2025.
Even inside the nda, the BJP's hesitation has been conspicuous. State bjp president dilip Jaiswal started with equivocation, declaring that whilst the elections might be fought underneath Nitish's management, the chief minister might be selected later. Within hours, he scrambled to amend his stance: "When I stated the elections might be fought underneath nitish kumar, it became apparent he is our chief ministerial face. Our slogan is Apparent Undertaking 2025: Phir se Nitish (Nitish once more)."
Union ministers Jitan ram Manjhi and chirag paswan have endorsed Nitish's leadership, but their effect on the inside of the nda is limited. The real selection-making rests with the BJP's primary command, and inside those corridors of power, the reluctance is palpable. As a senior JD(U) chief put it bluntly, "The BJP's nation management needs to be reined in. We had anticipated the prime minister to give up all ambiguity in bhagalpur by formally affirming Nitish as our chief ministerial face. While those latest clarifications are welcome, they would carry far more weight if Modi or bjp national president J.P. Nadda made it reliable."
As election season gathers momentum, political posturing is in complete swing. The JD (U) has informally earmarked 122 of the 243 meeting seats for its applicants, though bjp insiders suggest the final tally may be in the direction of a hundred seats for every fundamental associate within the NDA. In the meantime, the RJD is making overtures yet again, hoping to woo Nitish again into the mahagathbandhan fold.
Adding some other layer of intrigue is the question of succession. Nishant Kumar's surprising visibility has prompted a hypothesis that the JD(U) is quietly laying the groundwork for a dynastic transition.
Bihar has continually been an electoral anomaly for the BJP—a state where Hindutva has never pretty much managed to overshadow the deep-rooted caste equations and socialist legacies that outline its politics. In contrast to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, or Madhya Pradesh, wherein the saffron wave has frequently swept with brute force, bihar stays a panorama of delicate coalitions and cautious balancing acts.
And in the center of all of it stands Nitish—weathered, wily, and ever the reluctant kingmaker in a high-stakes game wherein the guidelines are constantly being rewritten.
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