New Delhi: The Janata Dal (United) Friday reappointed Nitish Kumar as its president, replacing Lallan Singh, with the party’s national council adopting a political resolution that makes a resounding pitch to get the INDIA bloc to declare the Bihar chief minister as its leader and, by implication, its prime ministerial face.
In the resolution, with a barely concealed subtext, the JD(U) said that Nitish, who will embark on a nationwide ‘Jan Jagaran Yatra’ in January as part of his renewed bid to emerge as INDIA’s face, is a politician whose experience in running coalitions, even in “adverse circumstances”, and emerging successful was beyond doubt.
The JD(U) also made it clear that going ahead, Nitish’s will be the last word on the party’s decisions related to INDIA, with a separate resolution empowering him to work out seat-sharing, select candidates and take other policy decisions related to the 2024 elections. JD(U) sources said that the Bihar CM was “upset” with the way Lallan Singh handled the INDIA talks.
Nitish and Singh, however, reached the venue of the meeting together, in a bid to counter perception that the two — who share an association going back to 1985 when both were office-bearers of the Yuva Lok Dal and followers of late Kapoori Thakur — have drifted apart.
At the meeting, it was Singh who proposed Nitish’s name as the party president. In the run-up to the meeting, speculations were rife that Singh was also being made to pay the price of “getting too cosy with the RJD leadership”. Incidentally, Singh was among the petitioners in the fodder scam cases against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting held at the Constitution Club of India ended, JD(U) spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said that the party “remains united”. The Bihar CM, he said, was empowered to make all moves on the INDIA alliance for the “sake of convenience”.
Responding to a question on Nitish’s prime ministerial aspirations, Tyagi said the Bihar CM was “already the prime minister and convenor of the ideas and thoughts of the INDIA alliance”. The political resolution of the party was more categorical in this respect.
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Nitish ‘architect’ of alliance — what JD(U) resolution said
“Nitish is a beacon of hope for the country’s crores of unemployed youth who belong to backward, extremely backward, deprived, and minority communities. The more significant thing is his experience in running coalitions, and maintaining coordination even in adverse circumstances,” stated the resolution.
It added: “The JD(U) believes that the bigger parties in the alliance have greater responsibilities. If this alliance has to be successful, the bigger parties must show a big heart. They have to be generous if a leader with experience and capacity to work is to be entrusted with responsibility. Small differences will have to be put aside for the sake of unity.”
The people of the country recognised Nitish’s role as the “architect” of the alliance, right after the INDIA parties’ Patna meeting, the resolution further stated. The Bihar CM had reportedly been sulking for not being made the convener of the INDIA bloc, which first met in Patna in June.
While the JD(U) insists that Nitish was not aspiring for any post, party sources said that he felt slighted after West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee floated the name of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the potential convenor and PM face of INDIA during its last meeting in Delhi held on 19 December.
On reports that Nitish might fight the Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh’s Phulpur, JD(U) spokesperson Tyagi said no decision has been taken on that front. “Phoolpur is akin to Mecca and Medina for the socialists. Nitish Kumar and (SP chief) Akhilesh Yadav will take a call on this question,” he added.
The JDU said it will also strongly push for a nation-wide caste-based census as part of the INDIA grouping. It assumes significance as constituents of the alliance, such as the TMC, are not on board with the idea, having made its displeasure evident in the previous meetings of INDIA.
At the national council meeting of the JD(U), Lallan Singh is also learnt to have forcefully argued against any truck with the BJP in the future. According to Tyagi, however, Singh merely said that “our leaders will not go to the BJP or join the NDA”.
Tyagi also said that the JD(U), if invited, will attend the Ram Temple inauguration.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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