Even on the issue of demonetisation, Nitish openly extended support to Modi. This had created lot of confusion and suspicion among the Mahagathbandhan, or Grand Alliance, cadres and supporters. Apprehensions were quite high in the GA circle about Nitish’s future moves. The only solace for them was Nitish would not break from the GA. In that even he would be powerless. But an overture from the BJP was also responsible for creating uncertainty.

Instead of coming together both the leaders have been projecting the Mahagathbandhan as the model of the secular alliance. Lalu has in fact been consistently opposing Modi and his government. He is also not opposed to the Congress. But the JD(U) has openly opposed Rahul Gandhi as the leader of secular morcha. On Monday while the state JD(U) meet project Nitish as the leader, the Congress cabinet minister and state PCC chief Ashok Choudhary stuck to the name of Rahul.

Nitish has also been trying to garner support of the opposition parties and has already undertaken the exercise of meeting them personally. Recently he met the general secretary of the CPI, Sudhakar Reddy and trying to impress upon himself his invincibility as the secular leader. If the sources are to be believed this move did not cut much ice. A member of the Bihar secretariat was candid “ if Nitish really intends to make the left, democratic and secular forces support him as the leader, he should completely change his approach and style” He in fact has been kissing snake and frog at the same time. May be some people would prefer to describe it as real politick. Such moves are detrimental as it shakes and weaken the trust of the common.

Lalu in fact has been going ahead with its mission to unite the secular and democratic forces. On March 27, Lalu called for unity among the secular parties ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He is keen to take the initiative to bring likeminded parties one platform. According to Lalu after the UP poll results things have changed and he is not going to sit quietly. Some RJD leaders hold the view that Nitish did not keep his commitment to field his party’s candidates in UP elections. Even some RJD leaders allege that by not contesting the election he facilitated the shift of the Kurmi-Koiri vote to the BJP.

True enough Lalu has been keenly watching the actions of Nitish. In the prevailing situation Lalu is weighing the option of contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha poll on its own strength. The senior leaders of the party who met here on March 26 to review and evolve their strategy were of the firm belief that instead of relying on Nitish, the RJD leadership must launch its own mission. The leadership was still of the view that Nitish would take the remedial measures and ensure that the rift is eliminated and the grand alliance works in a smooth manner. The RJD will consider going alone if the rift’ within ruling grand alliance (GA) widens and there is lack of consensus over the PM candidate of the proposed secular block to take on the BJP.

The RJD’s strategy to be lead player in the three party coalition in the run up to the 2019 poll, became evident when second son of Lalu Yadav, the deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav reportedly sough to known from senior leaders of his party whether they had the resources and mechanism to contest the 2019 poll alone. Nevertheless some RJD leaders tried to project this as a simple inquiry about its strength and whether would be able to regain its pole position.

The dip in the relation between the two parties took place on the inaugural day of Bihar Divas celebration. The name of Tejashvi was missing from the list of the guest. It was indeed bizarre. How could the government officials forget the name of their only one deputy chief minister? If the RJD leaders were angry at the development, all the family members of Lalu Yadav were furious. For them it was a deliberate move taken to embarrass him. Some senior leaders also felt that this must not have taken place without the overt sanction from Nitish who is known be quite perfectionist.

After the name of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Prasad Yadav was excluded from the invitation card for the inaugural function of the three-day Bihar foundation day, RJD boycotted the celebration on March 23 over the issue. Neither Tejaswi Prasad Yadav nor his father and RJD President Lalu Prasad were present at the function to celebrate the 105th year of the foundation of Bihar. The Bihar Day function is organised by Education department, the portfolio of which is held by Ashok Choudhary of Congress, another grand alliance partner. RJD state spokesman Mritunjay Tiwari told the exclusion of the deputy chief minister's name from the invitation card was a 'big lapse' which should be probed and action should be taken against officials responsible for it. They held 'RJD is the largest constituent of the grand alliance; hence its respect should be kept in mind in any official function.'

In recent times bickering between two partners have become quite apparent. The chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council is to retire this week. He is a BJP legislator. While Nitish intends to give him second term, Lalu desires that his wife Rabri Devi should be installed. This has considerably strained the relations between Lalu and Nitish. Sources even attribute the case of missing name of Tejashvi to this issue. Nitish tried to show his assertiveness.

Tejashwi had earlier claimed that the three party coalition won the November 2015 Bihar assembly poll because of Lalu Yadav’s own vote base and his impeccable secular credentials. But the JD (U) countered this, saying the GA won due to CM Kumar’s image as pro- development man with a secular image. One thing is absolutely clear that top RJD leaders are not in the mood to accept the leadership of Nitish and take him centrestage in uniting secular forces to fight BJP in the 2019 poll, by propping up Kumar as the candidate for the PM’s post.

Meanwhile the RJD boss Lalu will talk to all secular parties, including TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, BSP chief Mayawati and SP veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav, to float a new secular bloc to fight the BJP in 2019 poll..The RJD senior party leader and former union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said “A PM candidate should be decided by all. Some people should shed their ego and form a united secular front to combat the BJP’s divisive agenda”.

Every time a Rashtriya Janata Dal leader attacks Nitish Kumar or criticizes the grand alliance government for its failures to curb the crime or its inability to face the challenges, Tejshwavi Yadav shields Nitish and uses all his political skill to defend the government. But this time unfortunately the Nitish government has virtually insulted him on Bihar Divas.

The latest in the string of verbal altercation comes in the backdrop of election to four seats of Bihar legislative council a fortnight back. It was alleged that the Janata Dal (United) had supported Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and sitting council chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh, who won. Obviously this didn't go down well with RJD. Tejashvi felt 'If the grand alliance had fought together, the results would have been better'. (IPA Service)