POLITICAL DRAMA IN BIHAR

PATNA(TIP) : The decision to part ways with the RJD and join hands with the BJP was taken in the interest of Bihar and will ensure development and justice for the state, Nitish Kumar on July 27 said after being sworn in as the chief minister.

Kumar resigned the post Wednesday night after a fall out with the alliance partner RJD over corruption charges against Lalu Yadav and some of his family members, including son Tejashwi, who was the then deputy chief minister.

“Whatever decision we have taken will be in the interest of Bihar and of its people. It will ensure development and justice. It will also ensure progress. This is a collective decision. I ensure that our commitment is towards the people of Bihar,” Nitish Kumar told reporters. Kumar was sworn in as the chief minister of the state along side senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who will be his deputy in the new government, at the Raj Bhawan in Patna.

NITISH-MODI REUNION NOT A HURRIED AFFAIR

The reunion of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar appeared hurried on Wednesday, but it was in the works for nearly seven months. Warmth returned to the chilly relationship between the Prime Minister and Bihar chief minister as early as this January. The two astute politicians met after a long gap at a function in Patna to commemorate the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh. It was January 5 and TV screens flashed images of the two politicians sitting together, smiling at each other and even holding hands at different moments. The bitterness of parting ways and poll campaign was over.

“The unease in the relationship between the two leaders was over,” a BJP leader said. “Over the next months, they remained in touch, directly and through emissaries.”

The onstage bonhomie between the two was quite palpable. Modi praised Nitish for arrangements he made for prakash utsav and going ahead with prohibition despite opposition. Kumar reciprocated by praising Modi for successfully implementing a liquor ban in Gujarat as its chief minister.

The event at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna happened within months of Kumar supporting Modi’s decision to recall high-value banknotes. He also supported Modi on the military “surgical strikes” against terrorist hideouts in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Less than a week after this bonhomie blossomed, Kumar had an ice-breaking meeting with a top BJP leader in Patna.

They met again in Delhi in February to explore if a reunion can happen and on what terms.

The subsequent months saw Kumar talking of a grand alliance against the BJP, and simultaneously sharing with the BJP leadership his unease about the functioning of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his alliance partner.

He was jittery over Prasad calling the shots in departments headed by his son, deputy chief minister Tejashwi. This was not acceptable to a leader conscious of his image. A senior Union minister remained in constant touch with Kumar and every move was communicated to Prime Minister Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

A dispute between Tejashwi and another minister close to Kumar over a government project in Raxaul was another flashpoint. He was upset over friction between allies on sharing boards and corporation and the Congress’s dilly-dally on strategic matters.

LALU PRASAD TO TAKE FIGHT FOR BIHAR TO SUPREME COURT

PATNA (TIP): The battle for Bihar is expected to reach the Supreme Court but legal experts see little hope for Lalu Prasad, who has said that he will approach the top court against the governor’s decision to not call his Rashtriya Janata Dal for government formation.

Prasad’s ally Nitish Kumar dumped their so-called Grand Alliance on Wednesday and decided to partner with the Bharatiya Janata Party within hours, a development that Prasad has claimed should not have been allowed by governor Keshri Nath Tripathi since his was the largest party by elected legislators.

Legal experts say there is nothing illegal about the governor’s action and that he had the prerogative to invite whoever he thought had a better shot at forming government. “The idea of a single-largest party comes after election; after a crisis comes the concept of who has the larger and a stable combination – So the governor has the discretion to call on a combination or a party that will enjoy majority on the floor of the house,” said senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan.

Dhawan cited the example of Goa and Manipur,where too the governor’s action was challenged in the Supreme Court but nothing came of it.

The 2017 Goa elections saw a close contest in the 40-member assembly. BJP won 13 seats,while the Congress-NCP with 18 was the single largest collective. Yet the governor invited and appointed a BJP coalition with the MGP (three seats), Goa Forward Party (three seats) and three independents to form the government. Congress took the matter to the Supreme court but its petition was dismissed. Chief Justice of India J S Kehar had then said, “Where are your numbers? You could have finished the case in 30 seconds by showing that BJP don’t have the numbers. It seems you were not confident about the support you have. You should have asked the governor what nonsense she is doing and confidently said look we have the numbers. You should have sat on a dharna. You did nothing. You could have filed affidavits of your supporters before us. You are putting us in the position of the governor. These things you should have stated before the governor.”