Nitish Kumar exits BJP talks as seat-sharing tensions rise in Bihar
Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections in November, Nitish Kumar stepped back from BJP-led seat-sharing talks as NDA allies, including Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party, navigated tensions. Past rivalries and Paswan’s political comeback add complexity to the alliance arithmetic
New Delhi: Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas President Chirag Paswan has been exhibiting maturity and patience ahead of the Bihar Assembly election in November this year, unlike 2020 when he launched a broadside against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Yet, he was again teetering close to another revolt. Though Chirag’s Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United are both part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, the two still share frosty relations when it comes to the state.
Despite Nitish Kumar being the acknowledged face leading the NDA in Bihar, it was left to the BJP to sort out the seat-sharing formula with allies, who, say people in the know, sought a larger share at the cost of the JD-U.
The Chief Minister, claim insiders, would not agree to such demands, though in 2020, his party ended in the third position in terms of the number of legislators in the Bihar Assembly. But, projected again as the NDA’s Chief Ministerial candidate, Nitish Kumar chose to exert himself.
Despite having occasionally announced earlier campaigns as his last, he chose to continue. But many now see the septuagenarian leader to be in the winter of his professional career, with a public display of reported discomfort.
Meanwhile, the young Paswan, after the death of his father Ram Vilas, assumed leadership of the Lok Janshakti Party, which later witnessed division, and positioned himself as a challenger to Nitish Kumar’s leadership.
In 2020, though technically part of the NDA, he fielded 135 candidates out of Bihar’s 243 seats, almost all against the JD-U, and was widely seen as among the reasons that weakened the Chief Minister.
Nitish Kumar’s JD-U was reduced to 43 seats, while the BJP was stronger at 74. But the latter, despite emerging as the larger partner, chose to honour its commitment and let Nitish Kumar be the Chief Minister.
For Chirag, the 2020 gamble established his relevance as a disruptor in Bihar politics. According to a senior leader once close to his father, Chirag Pawan has inherited some political acumen from his father, who would uncannily sense victory for an alliance even before going to the hustings and realign himself.
The octogenarian leader, requesting anonymity, added that the heir resorts to constituency mapping, surveys, and poll management consultants, though at a modest level. Thus, through the period of open rebellion, Chirag chose to exhibit unwavering faith and loyalty towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling himself the latter’s “Hanuman”.
He continues to express that sentiment. When his talks with BJP emissaries over Thursday and Friday came close to sealing a seat-sharing deal, a reporter asked him about his self-respect.
“Where my Prime Minister is (present), I need not worry about my own respect,” he replied. In 2024, the Lok Sabha election marked Chirag Paswan’s political comeback, where his party won all five seats it contested in alliance with the NDA in Bihar.
Unlike the 2020 Assembly polls, where only one of his candidates could win — to defect later — the 100 per cent strike rate in the Parliamentary election gave him bargaining power within the NDA and earned him a Cabinet berth in the Narendra Modi government.
On June 5, 2024, ahead of an NDA constituents’ meeting in New Delhi, a confident Chirag called on Nitish Kumar along with his newly elected MPs. As late as May this year, he met Nitish Kumar in Patna, where, speaking to the media, he endorsed the latter’s leadership, claiming that there is “no vacancy” for the Chief Minister’s post.
But two months later, hours after meeting BJP President J.P. Nadda, Chirag expressed concern over Bihar’s deteriorating law and order. Under such circumstances, it was left to the BJP to amicably sort out alliance traumas.
