Nitish Kumar with Tejashwi Yadav at an iftar party in Patna, Friday, April. 15, 2022.
A new political equation seems to be forming in Bihar. A new poster has surfaced in Patna amid CBI raids on locations linked to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi in a fresh corruption case. The poster in question was seen in front of the RJD office located across the road from the JD(U) campus.
The poster accuses the Modi government of misusing investigative agencies and features a sketch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, holding a caged parrot with CBI written on it, while an eagle, known as the ED (Enforcement Directorate). Named, lurking nearby.
The poster also carries a small picture of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Leader of Opposition Tejashwi, seated next to each other, with a slogan underneath, highlighting the common ground taken by the two on the caste census.
Change in mood of Nitish
The poster indicates a change in Nitish Kumar’s mood towards the Yadav family. On Sunday, when Nitish Kumar was asked by journalists about the RJD’s allegation that the raids were “politically motivated”, he tried to dodge the question.
“I have no information, nothing to say. Only those involved in this matter can comment,” Kumar, who heads the BJP-JD(U) coalition government, told reporters in Patna.
Such a statement by Kumar is significant as it shows that JD(U) will not want to create more problems for RJD and Lalu. Nitish was earlier quite vocal against Lalu and his family, especially during the 2020 assembly elections, when he took a dig at them (Lalu-Rabri) saying that people have not forgotten ‘Jungle Raj’.
The RJD had last week accused the CBI of acting on the “directions of political masters in the BJP” that ruled the Centre. Several RJD leaders allege that the latest CBI case and subsequent raids were aimed at giving a warning to Nitish, who had recently gone to attend an iftar party organized at Rabri Devi’s house and when his son Tejashwi Yadav was arrested by the JD(U). ), then went to his car. Office to attend a similar feast.
Kumar has been an ally of the NDA since the mid-1990s. He ousted Rabri Devi from power in 2005, but broke ties with the BJP eight years later over ideological differences. Ahead of the 2015 assembly elections, he buried the hat-trick with Prasad and the arch-rivals alliance got a major breakthrough in the election. However, Nitish returned to the BJP camp in 2017 following a series of corruption allegations against Tejashwi, who had served as Nitish’s deputy.
If reports are to be believed, there is talk in the political arena in Bihar that the BJP is apprehensive that Nitish may again leave the NDA in the backdrop of the growing friendship between the CM and his former deputy. Apart from coming together at the Iftar party on two occasions – one organized by the RJD and the other by the JD(U), the two leaders are also on the same page on the caste-based census.