Nitish Kumar’s Visit To BJP Leader’s House Triggers Speculation About Another U-Turn In The Offing

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s sudden and unusual visit to the residence of a BJP MLC (Member of Legislative Council), Sanjay Mayukh, Sunday (March 26) has set tongues wagging furiously in the state. 

Mayukh had organised a ‘Chaiti Chhath’ puja at his residence.

Kumar, along with his two most trusted lieutenants--finance minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhury and water resources minister Sanjay Jha--were closeted with Mayukh for over an hour at the latter’s residence Sunday afternoon. 

The visit is significant because Mayukh is known to be very close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The BJP MLC often stays at Shah’s residence when he visits Delhi, and is considered to be one of Shah’s most trusted pair of eyes and ears in Patna. 

What is also significant is that Nitish Kumar took his two most loyal and devoted lieutenants along with him. And the four of them--Kumar, his two ministers and Mayukh--spent over an hour behind closed doors. 

Kumar does not, usually, visit the residence of an MLA or MLC and is known to maintain a respectable distance from even his own party legislators. 

Kumar told reporters later that he had gone to Mayukh’s residence to have prasad. What’s noteworthy is that this was the first time he had visited Mayukh’s residence. 

“It is most unusual for the chief minister to visit the residence of an MLC, and that too one from an opposition party. Nitish Kumar does not do anything like this impulsively, all his moves are staged and designed to send out a message. Also, he is not close to Mayukh at all,” senior BJP leader Prem Prakash told Swarajya. 

Many are drawing similarities with Kumar attending an iftar party hosted by Rabri Devi in April last year. That sent a clear signal about his intent to break ties with the BJP and return to the RJD-led mahagathbandhan. 

In 2017, too, Nitish Kuamr had attended an event hosted by senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi in Patna before he walked out of his alliance with the RJD. 

Political analysts in Bihar told Swarajya that there are indications that all is not well within the mahagathbandhan. 

According to some BJP leaders, Nitish Kumar was given documentary evidence of the involvement of RJD supremo Lalu Yadav and his family, including his son and deputy chief minister Tejaswi, in the land-for-jobs scam in the Indian Railways when Lalu Yadav was the Railway Minister (read this). 

“That is why his response to Lalu Yadav and his family being summoned by central probe agencies for questioning was muted and nuanced. He did not condemn the summons or the questioning as the RJD would have liked him to,” former BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal pointed out. 

The evidence against the Yadavs in the scam is irrefutable, claim BJP leaders. Once Nitish Kumar was shown some of the clinching evidence, he could not defend the indefensible. 

What is noteworthy is that, on being asked about the summons issued to Lalu Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav, Nitish Kumar said that “similar things happened in 2017”. 

That statement, say political analysts in Bihar, was wrongly interpreted as oblique criticism of central agencies and the BJP-led Union Government. 

“What he (Kumar) meant was something entirely different,” claimed a top BJP leader. 

In 2017, the ED had summoned Tejaswi Yadav (who was the deputy chief minister then too) for questioning in the land-for-hotels scam. Kumar wanted Tejaswi to step down and wait for his name to be cleared, but Tejaswi refused. That led to Kumar breaking ties with the RJD and joining hands with the BJP to continue in power.

“What the chief minister meant was that he had snapped ties with the RJD over grave charges of corruption in 2017 and, once again, corruption charges have been levelled against the Yadavs,” the BJP leader contended.

“Had Nitish Kumar wanted to speak against the central probe agencies and the Union Government, he would have done so clearly without mincing words. He chose to reply to reporters in quite an ambiguous manner that is open to varying interpretations. He does that when he wants to send mixed signals. This is his characteristic style,” a former Janata Dal (United) leader and long-time associate of Kumar told Swarajya from Darbhanga. 

This JD(U) leader, who has retired from active politics, said that had Nitish Kumar wanted to express solidarity with his allies (the Yadavs), he would have done so unequivocally. “He is clearly not convinced of their innocence and so he chose to remain vague and issue a statement that is open to interpretation,” the JD(U) leader said.

Significantly, again, the JD(U) was not a signatory to the letter by 16 Opposition parties protesting the alleged misuse of central agencies to target opposition leaders. Kumar, and other JD(U) leaders, have been silent on the moves by the ED against the Yadavs. 

Senior RJD leader Ramakant Yadav told Swarajya that the JD(U)’s insipid and ambiguous support to his party in the land-for-jobs scam has not been lost on the RJD leadership. 

“We are aware that Nitish Kumar has, of late, been exhibiting a reluctance to show solidarity with our ailing supremo Lalu Yadav and his family and has not come out in open support of our top leadership who are being hounded by the ED and CBI. Nitish Kumar and his close associates are also trying, of late, to maintain a distance from us,” said Yadav. 

A senior JD(U) leader who is also a minister and did not want to be named told Swarajya that Kumar is unhappy with the pressure being mounted on him by RJD leaders to step down in favour of Tejaswi Yadav. 

“Before rejoining the mahagathbandhan last year, a gentleman’s agreement was reached that Nitish Kumarji will eventually make way for Tejaswi, but on his own terms and a time of his choosing. A few other things, especially keeping a firm leash on the usually unruly RJD functionaries and cadres and preventing them from breaking the law were also agreed upon. But there have been violations of that agreement by the RJD. The RJD is not according proper respect to Nitish Kumarji and is exerting too much pressure on him to step down,” said the JD(U) leader. 

But the RJD is confident that Nitish Kumar will not return to the NDA again. That’s because such a move on his part will tarnish his reputation indelibly, and Kumar is very conscious of his own image. 

The BJP carried out a voluble campaign branding Kumar as Paltu Ram (person who changes sides frequently) after he snapped ties with the saffron party, and that moniker has stuck. Kumar will not want to do something that will make him go down in history as an untrustworthy person who takes frequent U-turns. 

Also, the BJP has publicly announced that its doors are closed to Nituish Kumar forever. Union Home Minister Amit Shah made this announcement at a public rally at Champaran in Bihar last month. 

But JD(U) leaders say that politics makes for strange bedfellows and no one is a permanent enemy or friend in politics. An arrangement with the BJP, they hold, is definitely within the realm of possibility. 

And that is why, perhaps, Nitish Kumar chose to visit the residence of a close associate of Amit Shah last Sunday.