KSR Column: The U-turns Of A Principled And Honest Nitish Kumar

By Kommineni Srinivasa Rao

Bihar is a classic example of how fast political climate changes in the country. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has a reputation of being principled and honest and such a person changing his loyalty to NDA has caused surprise among many. However, the Bihar incident is not without a precedent.

Several years ago in Harayana, the then chief minister Bhajan Lal was elected on the Janata Party ticket. As soon as the Congress party came to power in Delhi, he did not waste time in merging Janata Party with it. Although Nitish Kumar cannot be compared with Bhajan Lal, the way he switched loyality towards the NDA alliance reminds of the Haryana incident. Nitish is not new to the BJP-fold because he was CM on an earlier occasion with the BJP's help.

Later, due to ideological reasons or winning combinations he sided with the Lalu Prasad-led RJD and Congress and formed the Grand Alliance. This helped him become chief minister again. At that time Nitish conveniently overlooked the fact that Lalu was facing corruption cases against him and had also served jail term. The Congress on the other hand was facing several allegations of corruptions in the union government. But Nitish joined hands with Lalu and Congress and formed the Grand Alliance.

In this scenario, Nitish Kumar's stubborness to part ways with Lalu Prasad on the grounds that Lalu and his family are charged in several corruption cases, is ironical. First, he asked his deputy and Lalu Yadav's son Tejaswi Yadav to resign as he was facing corruption charges. Tejaswi Yadav refused and his father backed him. Faced with no alternative and to project his clean image, he resigned as chief minister. Later, Nitish joined hands with the BJP-led NDA and took oath as chief minister.

While this entire drama was being played out, one question remained unanswered. That came from deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav. He said that when the alleged scam took place as charged by the CBI, he was only 14-years-old and therefore ineligible to buy and sell any property. But neither the CBI or Nitish Kumar have any answers for that.

The episode raises doubts if Nitish Kumar had stage-managed the show in order to break-away from the Grand Allaince and join hands with Narendra Modi.

In an ideal world, political parties contest individually and win the elections. Later, they may admit one or two friendly parties to join them in government formation. However, when a political party is part of an alliance it needs to answer some ethical questions for leaving the group and joining hands with the opposition which in this case was the BJP.

Accusations of cheating and back-stabbing are being heard in political circles when describing the actions of Nitish Kumar. If, indeed, Tejaswi Yadav was wrong and he is not budging from the deputy CM post then the chief minister has every right to remove him and face a floor test in the state assembly. That is the correct way to occupy the CM chair again, political analysts say.

Now, the role of the Bihar governor has also come under a cloud. He is being charged with not following due process in inviting Nitish Kumar to form the government. History tells us that when Morarji Desai resigned and asked for an opportunity to form the government again, the then president Neelam Sajeeva Reddy flatly refused. That did not happen in Bihar.

That brings us to the conclusion that the only beneficiary in the Bihar episode is perhaps the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The latter has added another state and one more chief minister to its tally. But are its methods democratic and do they impact democratic values in the long run? Does the BJP stand to gain the long run? In a climate of changing political fortunes, only time will tell.