This will be the first meeting between the two leaders after the formation of the NDA Government in Bihar….reports Asian Lite News
Days after the formation of the NDA Government in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on February 7.
This will be the first meeting between the two leaders after the formation of the NDA Government in Bihar.
Though, it would be a courtesy meeting, it is of importance as it comes before the February 12 floor test of the NDA Government in Bihar Assembly.
Nitish Kumar will also meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President JP Nadda in the national Capital.
Earlier, the former National President of the JD-U and Munger MP Lalan Singh met Modi.
At present the NDA has 128 MLAs including 78 of BJP, 45 of JD-U, 4 of HAMS and one Independent. The total number of seats in Bihar Assembly is 243.
Meanwhile, after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, two Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, returned to Patna on Monday.
Choudhary and Sinha reportedly held a discussions with the Prime Minister and Home Minister on the Cabinet expansion in Bihar.
“We also thanked PM Narendra Modi for conferring Bharat Ratna to two-time Bihar Chief Minister late Karpoori Thakur. The Prime Minister has enhanced the prestige of the backward caste and Dalit people of the state,” Choudhary said.
“We also took guidance on running the government in Bihar. The Prime Minister has clearly directed us to fulfil the commitments and promises made in the run-up to the 2020 Assembly elections at any cost,” Choudhary said.
“We went to Delhi to thank PM Modi for freeing Bihar of ‘Gunda Raj’ and ‘Jungle Raj’. Double-engine government has returned to Bihar again. PM Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will establish ‘Sushashan’ (good governance) in the state,” said Sinha.
Patna: JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar takes oath as Bihar Chief Minister during the swearing-in ceremony of new state government, at Raj Bhavan in Patna on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (Photo: IANS/@IPRD_Bihar)
Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar administered the oath of office to Nitish Kumar during the swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Bhavan here….reports Asian Lite News
Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar on Sunday was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Bihar for the ninth time — hours after he dissolved his Cabinet by walking out of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ to once again join hands with the BJP.
Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar administered the oath of office to Nitish Kumar during the swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Bhavan here.
Bihar unit BJP chief Samrat Chaudhary, and Vijay Kumar Sinha were named Deputy Chief Ministers.
Soon after these three leaders took oath in Raj Bhavan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated them on ‘X’.
“I want to congratulate Nitish Kumar for becoming the chief minister, and Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha for becoming deputy chief ministers of Bihar,” PM Modi said.
Patna: Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar administers the oath to JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar during the swearing-in ceremony of the new state government at Raj Bhavan in Patna on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (Photo: IANS/@IPRD_Bihar)
“The NDA government formed in Bihar will leave no stone unturned for the development of the state and to fulfill the aspirations of its people. I am confident that this team will work in a dedicated manner for my family members of Bihar,” he added.
BJP national president J.P. Nadda was also present in the swearing-in ceremony.
The fresh development — BJP-JD-U alliance — came just ahead of the general elections, which, according to the political analysts, is expected to give the saffron party an edge in putting up a “strong peformance” in the Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav who are well aware of the caste combinations of Bihar, released the data of the caste based survey on October 2 with the aim to clear the confusion among people about their numbers.
Caste is the biggest factor to define the social structure of Bihar and people choose their life partner and elect their representatives from the same caste as theirs.
There is a perception here that people from the same caste may be better disposed and more trustworthy than people from other castes.
Politicians, especially in the current ruling parties, understand this mentality of the people and went for the caste based survey to make people aware about their actual strength.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav who are well aware of the caste combinations of Bihar, released the data of the caste based survey on October 2 with the aim to clear the confusion among people about their numbers. Also, the chance of creating confusion in the minds of voters by the political parties would no longer fully apply in Bihar following this report.
The Bihar government has counted 215 castes and their actual numbers. This would turn out to be a master stroke by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, to counter the Narendra Modi led BJP.
For Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, the caste based survey is similar to the Mandal Commission report that was brought by Vishawanath Pratap Singh after assuming power at the Centre. At that time, he was confronting the Congress party which was represented by and large by people of the upper castes. Now, the upper castes are the core voters of the BJP and Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar released the caste based survey to defeat the saffron party.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a conversation with Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.(Photo IANS)
The two know that the Lok Sabha election 2024 would be fought around the OBCs and PM Narendra Modi will play this card to lure the voters in the country and Bihar. Nitish and Lalu Prasad knew that the numbers of OBC and EBC are higher in Bihar and they came up with the actual numbers to avoid any confusion among the voters. Moreover, they do not want the BJP to create confusion in Bihar in the name of the OBCs.
Shivanand Tiwari, the national vice president of the RJD said: “Narendra Modi became scared after the release of the caste based survey and the way he is choosing his words betrays his uneasiness. On the other hand, the deprived section of society is also feeling uneasy. They have contributed their labour and hard work in building the nation but their status is similar to second class.”
Over the years, the BJP has come to be known as the party of the upper castes. They are the core voters of the BJP and are 15.52% including Bhumihars who are 2.86%, Brahmins are 3.66%, Rajputs are 3.45%, and Kayasthas are 0.60% in Bihar.
On the other hand, Nitish Kumar has core voters who come from the Lav-Kush equation where Lav stands for Kurmis having 2.87% and Kush stands for Kushwaha who are 4.21% in Bihar. Moreover, he has a stronghold among OBC and EBC voters. Lalu Prasad has the Muslims and Yadavs who are 17.7% with the Yadavs at 14%. A sizable vote bank of Scheduled Castes (19%) EBC and OBC also support Lalu Prasad. So, these two are well ahead of the BJP on this count.
In the past, the upper castes who are lower in numbers, dominated over the OBC, EBC and Scheduled Castes who have higher numbers. Lalu Prasad had given voice to the these suppressed castes and turned out to be a leader of social justice. Following that, a number of massacres took place in Bihar especially in Bhojpur, Jahanabad, Gaya and some other districts. Nitish Kumar has also carried the same baton and the pain of untouchability and massacres are in the minds of the upper and lower caste people. They have chosen their political parties in Bihar.
The people of the lower castes know that the BJP is a party of the upper castes and hence they cannot go with it. As a result, the BJP failed to form the government in Bihar on its own. The upper castes do not have enough strength to form the government. The BJP stayed in power in Bihar but with the help of Nitish Kumar.
Nitish Kumar also knew that his individual position would not be good enough to secure power in the state as the Kurmi and Kushwaha are 2.87% and 4.21% respectively and hence he took support of either the BJP or the RJD.
Lalu Prasad emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the caste based survey with his core voters Muslims at 17.7% and Yadavs at 14%.
The political parties more or less knew about the strength of their core voters but the voters themselves did not know until the caste based survey report. Now, they know their actual strength and creating confusion by any particular party will not be possible from now on.
This is probably the reason why, the BJP started the game of Hindus and Muslims in Bihar.
As per the report, Bihar has a population of 13 crore, 7 lakh, 25,000 and 310 with Hindus at 81.9%, Muslims 17.7%, Christians are 0.05%, Sikhs 0.01%, Bodh 0.08%, Jains 0.0096% and other religions at 0.12%.
BJP MLA from Madhubani (Bipsi assembly constituency) Haribhushan Thakur Bachaul demanded that the Nitish Kumar government declare Bihar as a Hindu state with the aim to avoid polarizing voters on the basis of caste and sub castes and that they vote on the basis of religion.
BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda came to Patna on October 4 and held a closed door meeting with the party MPs for 30 minutes.
Sources said that he asked them to go to their constituencies and take feedback from the voters. He also said that if the feedback is positive they should establish good relations with them and if anyone gives negative feedback, try to resolve their grievances.
He also told them to spread awareness about women’s reservation, concentrate on the OBC vote bank, target Lalu Prasad but avoid Nitish Kumar and alliance partners.
Earlier, he was the deputy CM of the state from 2015 till mid-2017.
The strength of the ministry would be around 35. After severing ties with the BJP, Kumar, on Tuesday handed over the letter of support of 164 MLAs comprising of seven parties to the governor who invited him to form the government.
Leaders familiar with the development said RJD with 79 MLAs are likely to have 16 ministers, JD (U) with 45 MLAs will have 14 ministers as per the formula worked out by the new alliance partners.
Congress with 19 MLAs is likely to get three berths while Left and HAM-S will get a berth each.
The coveted post of Speaker, which became the bone of contention between the BJP and the JD (U) is likely to go to the RJD.
“It is natural that the RJD will have the lion’s share in the cabinet, but it will also stake claim to key portfolios, including finance and home department. Nitish Kumar has always kept home with himself. The Speaker’s chair will also be with the RJD. Even BJP got Speaker’s chair,” said a senior RJD leader.
According to reports, JD(U) could retain all the ministers who were part of the NDA government with the addition of Upendra Kushwaha’s name. The RJD list also includes the name of Lalu’s eldest son Tej Pratap Yadav. Santosh Kumar Suman, son of HAM-S chief Jitan Ram Manjhi will be party’s lone representative while the name of BPCC president Madan Mohan Jha is doing the rounds in Congress circle.
Bihar developments fill SP with ‘optimism’
The change of government in Bihar has filled the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh with ‘optimism’.
SP President Akhilesh Yadav sees the BJP-JD(U) break-up as a “good start” for Indian politics.
This is the beginning of the end. It signals ‘BJP satta chhodo’ on the lines of ‘Angrezo Bharat chhodo’ slogan that was coined during the Independence movement, he stated.
Talking to reporters in Kannauj, Akhilesh said: “People in our communities are no longer getting postings in institutions and all BJP supporters are being appointed to key posts at universities and educational institutions.”
He further warned: “If they get more powerful, then your right to vote might also be taken away. People should not take such possibilities lightly as this was exactly what was happening in many countries in India’s neighbourhood.”
Akhilesh also targetted the ruling BJP for selling away public enterprises to corporates. He said the way in which the safron party was selling over government establishments like railways, airports and airlines, a time will come when people will be treated like slaves.
“If they (BJP) remain in control, all of us will turn into slaves,” Akhilesh said.
He added: “In days to come the government will not buy your wheat, private people will buy your wheat.”
The SP president further said that the BJP government is not the government of the poor and farmers.
“This is a government of industrialists. Since the BJP came to power, inflation has increased. From diesel-petrol to gas cylinders, milk, curd–everything has become expensive. Farmers are suffering losses in agriculture. Farmers are not even getting the cost price of their crops. Not only this, the BJP government has cheated the youth by introducing the Agniveer scheme in the Army,” he said.
He said: “In the coming time, this government will also bring a similar scheme in the recruitment of police and PAC. This government has also done government jobs on contract. The youth are not getting jobs. A large number of youths are unemployed. The BJP government is only working for the welfare of the Industrialists.”
