After aborting the move for unification of Janata Parivar, the RJD chief Lalu Prasad is on the mission to downsize Nitish Kumar. One thing is quite obvious Lalu is more virulent in his attack on Nitish than his BJP adversaries. The relation between the two has strained to such an extent that the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar skipped sharing the dais with Lalu Yadav on May 30. Nitish and Lalu were invited to a rally of the Nishad (fishermen) community organised at the Gandhi Maidan on that day. Sharad Yadav was present. Nitish did not turn up in spite of the fact that the posters and banners carried the pictures of both the leaders.

Significantly while attending a government function this week, Kumar had made his intentions clear that he would not attend the meeting. The alibi was an eye operation. “I’d told the organisers that I’ll not be able to attend the meeting because of my eye operation,” clarified Kumar. But the main reason was Lalu‘s machination to downsize him. A day ahead of the Nishad rally, quite aware of the fact that former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi nurses strong hatred towards Nitish, Lalu formally propounded the idea of a grand alliance with Manjhias key player to take on the BJP in Bihar. This was not for the first time Lalu approached Manjhi with this offer. In fact Manjhi earlier had reciprocated Lalu’s offer with a rider that he would be too willing to join hands with Lalau if he shuns Nitish.

Obviously Lalu’s Saturday offer had wider implications. On number of occasions Manjhi had made his intentions clear that he was willing to join Lalu but not ready to align with Nitish. He had even said Lalu was a nice person and he should keep away from Nitish. Even after this, Lalu making repeated overtures to Manjhi does not sound politically correct. What was most significant was Lalu came out with the offer at the Nishad rally in the presence of JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav. Lalu even urged both the Yadavs to remove irritants in the way of a merger before the Bihar polls due in October. This was the second time Nitish skipped sharing the dais with Mr. Prasad on a public platform. Earlier, on April 19, Mr. Kumar did not attend a rally at the same venue to share the dais with Lalu.

So far Nitish has been the axis of the merger move, but now in the changed situation, rather in the fight for one-upmanship, Lalu desires to be the fulcrum of any such future move. This would eventually project him as the leader of socialist and social justice forces. He also made a tactical shift in his approach. While Nitish worked for merger of all the janata party groups, Lalu floated the idea of alliance of non-NDA parties, including the Left, ostensibly with the aim to project him as the leader capable to lead the secular forces in Bihar. But there is more to it. This is also a strategic move of Lalu to project him as the leader of social justice forces. So far Nitish was being perceived as the public face of the social justice. Lalu is desperate to gain back the space and the crown. Undeniably this will check the process of his marginalization in the national politics.

Apparently Lalu’s game plan did not have any lacuna. But a small move of the Congress torpedoed his plan of action. The Congress instead of relying on its old friend Lalu this time opted to ally with the JD(U) of Nitish for going to the assembly elections The Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Nitish Kumar will meet soon for exploratory talks. It is worth mentioning that ever since Lalu was debarred from contesting the elections Gandhi has been consciously maintaining a distance from Lalu. Otherwise too Rahul always had a preference for Nitish over Lalu as an ally.

In fact this move of Congress has emboldened Nitish to take on Lalu on his home turf, this has also upset the mathematical calculations of Lalu. With Sharad on his side, Lalu was toying with the idea to snatch the initiative from Nitish. In fact Lalu nursed the idea that his RJD and the Congress should jointly bargain with Nitish for seats. The Congress leadership does not want to fall in Lalu’s trap this time and loose its say. Lalu had forced the Congress into accepting an unfair share of seats in 2004, 2009 and 2014.

Lalu is also desperate to have Sharad Yadav with him as he is acceptable to the creamy layers of the Yadav community, the Krishnaut and Majhraut. With Sharad with him, Lalu can be rest assured that there would be no split in the Yadav vote. Moreover with Sharad on his side, Lalu will enjoy the political sanctity of being the top leader.

After the Lok Sabha elections Lalu nursed the impression that Nitish was a lame duck leader and he could exploit the situation to his advantage. This was precisely the reason that Lalu agreed to extend support to Nitish in the assembly and also merge his party into the greater Janata Parivar. But Nitish’s return, after Jitan Ram Majhi quit, made it clear to Lalu that the emerging political scenario was detrimental to his interest and it would not be a smooth sailing for him. In fact an insight into the process of unification of the Janata Parivar would make it explicit that Lalu always created obstacles and delayed the process.

With the ground level situation and caste equations going against him, a desperate Nitish had hardened his stand as well as the posture against Lalu. Nitish will have to depend on his personal image of provider of a good governance. Nitish instead of relying on the arithmetical calculations has adopted an aggressive development posture. In the changed situation his focus is more on the urban population. With Congress ready to align with JD(U), Nitish is sure to outwit Lalu. Significantly the Bihar Congress chief Ashok Choudhary has cleared the air to a greater extent, “Nitish Kumar has been a good chief minister and has strong mass appeal.” (IPA Service)