Maintaining his public posture of zero tolerance towards corruption, barely two days ago Nitish has sent out a loud and clear message to his deputy to publically clarify his position in the matter of CBI investigation against him on corruption charges. The message was interpreted as Nitish’s directive to Tejashvi to resign from the state cabinet.

However, K C Tyagi, a close confidante of Nitish, tried to clarify and put the record straight: “Friends of the RJD should not overreact. They should find out what exactly Nitish Kumar said in the meeting. The JD(U) has not sought Tejashwi’s resignation, nor fixed any time limit. Nitish Kumar did not give any four-day ultimatum. He did not take the name of either the RJD or Tejashwi in the meeting.”

Just a day after Nitish’s public assertion that his deputy chief minister should come clean on allegations in the land-for-hotels case, Tejashvi hit back; "Nobody can allege that I have done anything wrong. "They are scared of my father but I cannot understand why they are scared of a 28-year-old. From day one, the BJP leaders are trying to break the Grand Alliance. The BJP leaders not only tarnished my image but also tarnished the image of Bihar. Why I am being punished? Because I talked about poor people, jobs for the unemployed or for reminding Narendra Modi to fulfil his promises? Am I being punished for working honestly?"

In fact, Lalu and his senior colleagues nurse the view that the BJP attack on Tejashvi was part of a well-planned conspiracy to finish the Yadav family politically. Little doubt, through his work and actions Tejashvi has managed to win over a major section of the people. They have started viewing him as the future chief minister.

Many people are ready to subscribe to what he says; “I fail to understand how a boy who is 13 or 14 years old can commit a political scam. The matter is of 2004, when my moustache had not even grown (tab mera mooch bhi nahi aaya tha). At that time, I did not have any post; I was a kid. This is not an allegation but a conspiracy.... I will go to the people of Bihar, because they have chosen me. I respect the people's mandate. The people of Bihar are standing with me. I have done so much work at the age of 28. The FIR which has been filed against me is political vendetta and a conspiracy by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The CBI charges against me date back to the time when I was a kid and didn't even have facial hair.”

What was most surprising was that by implication Tejashvi tried to send the message that the wrong doings for which he was being made responsible had actually taken place when Nitish was the rail minister. The railways had decided to give out the BNR hotels in Puri and Ranchi on lease in 2004, when Nitish was railway minister and Tejashwi, born on November 9, 1989, was a just a few months over 14. The leases were given out in November 2006 when Lalu was railway minister and Tejashwi was 17. The CBI FIR alleges that the RJD chief got land in lieu of the leases via a confidante's shell company, whose ownership was transferred to Lalu's family in 2014 with Tejashwi, then 25, as director. Obviously it implied that he was not involved personally in the scam.

However, there is a general consensus that the situation got vitiated due to the overreaching tactics of Lalu. His summoning of the senior bureaucrats to discuss policy matters was abhorred by a large section of the officials. His insistence of assigning a major share of the administrative control and functioning to himself and his party men simply aggravated the situation. Not less than 120 board and corporations are in a limbo for more than 16 months after Nitish removed their chairmen following Lalu’s insistence to induct his own men in at least 60 per cent of these bodies. His style of functioning was simply an embarrassment for Nitish and strengthened the impression that Bihar was having Lalu as the proxy chief minister. Some restraint on Lalu’s part could have avoided the present crisis. Probably BJP leader Sushil Modi might not have got access to information on corruption against his family.

Nitish may not be impulsive but he suffers from the malaise of inaction and indecisiveness. The compulsion of real politics has made him ignore the ground realities. Nitish knows that joining hands with BJP will ultimately harm his political interest; he cannot imagine to be the prime minister. But his desire to maintain his image of being a clean politician has forced him to go to this extent. His old friend and advisor Shivanand Tiwari has to say this: "Nitish ka dimaag tedha-medha chalta hai ... Nitish kya nirnay lenge gathbandhan pe wahi jaanein” (Nitish's mind works in a haywire fashion.. Only he knows what decision he will take on the fate of the alliance government).

It is also explicit that only a grand alliance of secular parties can preserve and protect his political interest. Intriguingly, he is now faced with the "burning question of the hour" on the fate of his grand alliance government following Tejashwi's refusal to step down.

His inclination towards BJP and more specifically to Narendra Modi has been an open secret, but it is also a fact that he has not succeeded in mustering enough courage to take Lalu Yadav head on. Nitish desires to get rid of Lalu, but at the same time he is not sure of the nature and character of the support that BJP has promised to offer. Only two days ago the state BJP president extended outside support to Nitish in case he breaks the grand alliance.

Nitish is cautious of the caste conflict that has been gripping the state BJP. It is a known fact that BJP has been a divided house and leaders have been working at cross-purposes. In this backdrop, Nitish will have to spend much of his time playing the role of conciliator. BJP accusing Lalu of buying peace with central BJP leaders by promising to topple the mahagathbandhan government in Bihar has not gone well down with Nitish. It is quite significant that Nitish has assured Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of supporting Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the national Opposition's candidate for Vice-President.

Some observers interpret his advice to RJD leaders on Tuesday that they should go to the people and “explain the charges of corruption levelled against the Lalu family in the FIR lodged by the CBI last week,” as his keen desire to salvage the situation and maintain his relation with Lalu Yadav. Nitish’s support to Gandhi signals a thaw in the Congress-JD(U) relationship, which has considerably strained following senior Congress leader Gulab Nabi Azad’s remarks of June 26 that suggested that Nitish was a political opportunist. (IPA Service)