Real reason behind Lalu backing Nitish Kumar as Bihar CM

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav’s approval of Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate of his alliance for the coming Assembly elections in Bihar may have been due to his political compulsions, but this act has unwittingly helped him redeem himself to a great extent.

Lalu has been roundly criticised over the years for foisting his wife Rabri Devi as the chief minister 18 years ago. After being chargesheeted in the infamous fodder scam in 1997, Lalu had nominated his wife — a political greenhorn — to be his successor in an act that was devoid of any reason other than his proclivity to retain power in his hand by proxy.

It was not that the RJD did not have politically mature leaders waiting in the wings to take over the reins rom Lalu who was about to be jailed on corruption charges. Lalu’s move propelled him into the league of unabashed votaries of dynastic politics in the country. He was seen as someone who made use of his popularity to perpetuate his family’s hegemony in the party with scant regard for the inner-party democracy.

With such an image and background, it was but natural to expect Lalu to do everything to forestall all attempts to announce Nitish’s name as the chief ministerial candidate of his newly-formed alliance. Though Lalu himself refrained from speaking directly on the issue, his confidants talked at length about the possible damage the projection of Nitish might cause to the "secular" alliance in its fight against the BJP. They actually wanted the JD(U)-RJD alliance to wait for the assembly poll results to elect its legislature party leader.

This had put the future of the alliance in jeopardy for a while and fuelled speculations that Lalu did not want to spoil the chances of his wife or daughter (Misha Bharti) to become the chief minister by accepting Nitish as the leader of the alliance before the polls.

Lalu, however, had another reason to oppose Nitish’s candidature.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, the RJD’s vote share was considerably larger than that of the JD(U). In fact, the party had consistently received around 20 per cent votes in all elections in the past 10 years when its fortunes had plummeted to new depths. It was a feat no other party, including the JD(U) and the BJP, could boast of in Bihar.

Lalu had apparently hoped that his party would emerge as the largest party in the "secular" alliance in the coming polls and automatically get the leader’s post. This was, however, not acceptable to the JD(U) and the Congress which had remained his long-time ally. As a matter of fact, the JD(U) and the Congress wanted Nitish to be projected as the chief ministerial candidate because of his clean image and impressive track record in governance in the past 10 years.

The JD(U) went to the extent of saying that it would enter into alliance with the RJD only if Nitish was declared the chief ministerial candidate. It was the fear of political isolation that forced Lalu to accept the JD(U)’s demand.

Lalu may have been forced by political circumstances to give up his party’s claims on the chief ministership, but he was not blind to the ground realities. He apparently knew that his party had no chance to halt the BJP’s winning march — despite its traditional vote bank — without entering into an alliance with Nitish. He had observed how the split in the non-BJP votes in the past had been keeping him out of power since 2005. All these factors must have played on Lalu’s minds when he chose to let go of his personal ambitions and gave his nod for Nitish’s candidature, thus paving the way for the formation of a formidable alliance against the BJP-led NDA in Bihar.

In doing so, the Bihar strongman might not have undone the mistake he had committed 18 years ago by denying the chief minister’s chair to the worthy claimants of his party, but he has certainly done some good to his image and his alliance by choosing the best option available to him for the coming polls.