Former Railway Minister and RJD chief LaluPrasad Yadav is facing a tough time on deciding to choose between his party’s political career and his son, Tejashwi Yadav‘s political career. After the recent CBI raids conducted on the premises of Lalu and his family members, Bihar’s mahagathbandhan is in fishy waters.
BJP and JD(U) Chief and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar have been demanding for the resignation of Lalu’s son and Bihar’s Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav on the grounds of him being attached in cases charged by the CBI. RJD made it clear that Tejashwi will not resign as he is only accused till now and nothing has been proven yet. While on the other hand, Nitish is adamant on keeping hiss clean image in politics and remains firm on zero tolerance regarding corruption. He said that he does not want any such member in his government who have stains of CBI cases on him.
The prevailing political condition of the state is raising another major question that, with Nitish demanding Tejashwi’s resignation and RJD denying for it and Congress being a silent spectator, will the grand alliance between RJD-JD(U)-congress survive?
Many are of the belief that Nitish Kumar may break up with the alliance and join hands with BJP again, as his actions spoke louder than words when he voted for the NDA Presidential candidate. J(D(U) is well aware that if it does not get the support of any alliance…than the victory of the party in Bihar is impossible. While RJD is also aware of the fact that if Nitish backs out from the alliance, RJD will be swept out of the state.
Both the parties are working on different possibilities to save their party. Earlier last week Nitish held a meeting with RJD chief and his son, but could not reach to any conclusions following which he held meeting with Congress VP Rahul Gandhi, insisting him to take a categorical stand on corruption charges against the RJD leaders.
CM is organising cabinet meeting in Patna on 26 July and this date could also mark a change in the history of politics of Bihar. The official agenda of this meeting is to deliberate on the list of business for the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Bihar Assembly, which begins on 28 July. It also likely that Nitish Kumar suspends Tejashwi and Tej Pratap from his cabinet.
On the other hand, RJD is also searching and planning for alternative platforms, if the grand alliance breaks in Bihar. Lalu Prasad has initiated moves to stitch together an alternative political platform with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and former Bihar chief minister Jiten Ram Manjhi’s Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM). The RJD camp believes that an alliance with the BSP and HAM had the potential to demolish the Extremely Backward Caste (EBC) vote bank that Kumar has so assiduously built over the years.
As peacemaker, Prasad has been on an outreach exercise to bring together the Samajwadi Party and the BSP in UP, while proposing that Mayawati be fielded as the joint Opposition candidate for the by-elections that are likely in Phulpur – the parliamentary seat expected to be vacated by BJP leader and UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.