Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar’s unexpected move to snap ties with the NDA and form the government in the eastern state in alliance with the RJD and Left parties has prompted the BJP to come up with a concrete strategy to counter the eight-time chief minister.
Nitish Kumar has been claiming of late of contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections along with the Opposition parties. In fact, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, after taking part in a meeting with CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D. Raja and Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Friday, said that all the opposition parties should form a strategy together.
The recent statements of Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav drop an apparent hint that both leaders are trying to bring all Opposition parties on a single page to counter the BJP in the 2024 general elections.
Even as Nitish Kumar is yet to make any official statement in this context, he could emerge as a potential prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Parliamentary battle. And the BJP is not unaware of such probabilities.
The BJP was a long-standing political ally of Nitish Kumar’s JD-U. Both had worked together in the Central as well as state arena. The BJP believes that one of the weak spots of the Bihar CM where it could target him is his alliance with Lalu Prasad’s RJD — a party that does not enjoy a “clean” image on several counts.
The party has been targetting Nitish Kumar over the corruption-related allegations levelled against Lalu Prasad and his family members since he is currently running the government along with the RJD.
Interacting with mediapersons at the BJP headquarters here, party spokesperson Sambit Patra said: “‘Jungle Raj’ is back in Bihar. In fact, it was Nitish Kumar who had coined the term ‘Jungle Raj’ when Lalu Prasad was in power. Today, he has joined hands with his party to run the government.”
According to sources, the BJP’s strategy to target Nitish Kumar will mainly be related to issues of corruption charges against the Lalu Prasad’s family. The party would be posing questions to the Bihar Chief Minister and take them out to the people (voters) of other states as well.
