Kissa kursi ka! BJP evasive, Congress cautious as CM face remains uncertain

Patna: What’s in a name, they say. A great deal, especially in Bihar’s electoral politics where the assembly election is being fought without any discernible wave for or against the incumbent NDA govt led by CM Nitish Kumar.In the NDA, the JD(U) slogan “2025 se 30 phir se Nitish” seeks to reaffirm Nitish’s leadership. Yet, senior BJP leaders, including union home minister Amit Shah, have been careful to say that the alliance’s MLAs will elect the CM after the polls. They, however, maintain that the NDA is contesting under Nitish’s leadership.The situation is similar in the opposition Mahagathbandhan. While RJD chief Lalu Prasad has declared his son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as the next CM, the Congress central leadership, including leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, evaded a reply on the issue during his Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, saying “everything was well coordinated”, a claim that appears far from convincing for now.Asked about a potential BJP chief ministerial face in Bihar, Shah, while in Patna, sidestepped the question. “Gathbandhan mein sabhi chizon ka aur janbhavana ka aklan kar faisale hote hain (in a coalition, decisions are taken after assessing all things and public sentiment),” he said.Political analysts interpret Shah’s remark as an acknowledgment that BJP lacks a leader who can match Nitish’s experience and following in state politics for the sheer fact that he has nursed many key constituencies among the women and extremely backward castes through the govt schemes over the last 20 years.

That Nitish still carries enough weight to tilt the power scale in favour of any coalition is not a secret for either side of the political spectrum in Bihar.

So, no matter how much the BJP die-hard supporters want their own CM, Nitish is compulsorily the natural choice for the party or other NDA ally, including LJP(RV) chief Chirag Paswan, who immensely damaged the JD(U) prospects in the 2020 Bihar polls.“Bihar has fully understood what Shah said; that Nitish Kumar will no longer be the CM of Bihar.

It is absolutely clear from Shah’s words that the BJP is determined to seize power in Bihar,” said CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya.It's not so easy, given the fact that Lalu will never hesitate to embrace Nitish at any stage as the CM to weaken the BJP and share power in Bihar, analysts said.That’s why HAM(S) patron and union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Sunday said when BJP says NDA is fighting under the leadership of Nitish, they should declare him also as the CM face.

“Bin dulha baraat accha nahin lagta,” he said.As far as the opposition camp is concerned, the Congress central leadership has been playing its Bihar cards according to a plan to revive the party at the grassroots level for the next election, no matter if it has to lose this time.They want to give an impression of leading from the front and out of the shadow of the Lalu-led party. This is one reason why Rahul or any of his central leaders did not project Tejashwi as the CM so far and want to explore the post-poll possibility of pushing a dalit or Muslim face for the CM post, if they win, a Congress source said.

If RJD fields a candidate against state Congress chief in Kutumba reserved seat, it will be a move to scuttle that possibility to some extent.He added that the move gained direction when Krishna Allavaru was appointed the Congress incharge for Bihar and Akhilesh Prasad Singh, a Lalu loyalist, was replaced by Rajesh Kumar, a dalit face, as state president. Both have consciously kept their distance from the RJD leadership since assuming charge.Nevertheless, as things stand, Nitish and Tejashwi remain the undisputed CM faces of their respective alliances unless Bihar’s political stage takes a dramatic and unforeseen turn.