Nitish Kumar, BJP Not on Same Page? Bihar CM Skips Event on NDA's First Anniversary in State

Patna, July 28: Amid speculations on Nitish Kumar's growing disenchantment with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Bihar Chief Minister has provided more fodder to pundits as he decided not to attend the event marking the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) first year in power.

On Thursday, leaders of the JD(U), BJP and LJP met in Patna to mark NDA's first anniversary after forming the government in the state. In what caught the allies by surprise, Nitish decided to skip the event. The sushasan babu, instead, attended a function where the construction of a record 11 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana was initiated.

Sources close to the JD(U) supremo claim he is disappointed with the ruling BJP at the Centre which has not live upto the expectations Nitish had after he walked out of the Mahagathbandhan. The Bihar CM, insiders claim, was irked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi "ignoring" his plea to grant central varsity status to the Patna University.

The snubbing came after the Centre turned a deaf ear to his appeal seeking Rs 7,600 crore as flood relief amount last year. Instead, the central government had sanctioned Rs 1,700 crore, nearly one-fourth of what the state had demanded.

Apart from the Centre not adhering to his whims, Nitish's disenchantment grew stronger after his image of a "secular administrator" took a hit after scores of BJP cadres were allegedly involved in the communal clashes which broke out during Ram Navmi in April this year.

The Chief Minister was also disappointed with the BJP top brass for not reprimanding Union MoS Giriraj Singh who met riot-accused Bajrang Dal activists. Further, the state BJP had also raised eyebrows at Nitish after he ordered the police to launch a rigorous crackdown on communal elements irrespective of their party affiliations.

The death knell to the alliance, claim pollsters, could be sounded ahead of the 2019 general elections as the BJP is unlikely to adhere to the seat-sharing formula on the wishlist of the JD(U).

While the saffron party has 22 lawmakers from the 40 seats in Bihar, it is unlikely to retract from its position. The JD(U), on the other hand, will bargain hard citing its success in the 2015 Lok Sabha elections, when it fetched 74 seats as compared to the BJP's 54.

Pollsters also claim that the BJP eyes an advantage in letting Nitish Kumar loose, as he would significantly dent the Muslim electorate - forming 20 per cent of the state's population. As seen in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the non-BJP votes got sharply divided between the JD(U), RJD and Congress, which allowed the saffron party to register its best performance in the state.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 28, 2018 01:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).