Tensions Between Governing BJP & Key Ally Reportedly Mount in India's Bihar

© AP Photo / Aftab Alam SiddiquiSupporters of Janata Dal (United) celebrate the lead of their party alliance in initial results for the Bihar state assembly polls, in Patna, India, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020.
Supporters of Janata Dal (United) celebrate the lead of their party alliance in initial results for the Bihar state assembly polls, in Patna, India, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.08.2022
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The Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been allies in Bihar since the early 2000s, except for a brief period from 2013 to 2017, when Nitish Kumar governed the state in unison with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). However, the JD(U) and the BJP have bickered in public in recent months.
The two-decade-old alliance between the JD(U) and BJP is on the verge of collapse, with Bihar state chief Nitish Kumar exploring the option of tying up with the RJD to form a new government there, media outlet NDTV reported on Monday.

Although the BJP and the JD(U) have been taking pot-shots at each other for some time, the verbal attacks have intensified in recent days. However, the trigger for the alliance reaching a breaking point came last week, when R.C.P. Singh, once a close aide of JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, quit the party.
This occurred after the JD(U) accused Singh of taking up the post of a federal minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government without first receiving consent from his own party leader and Bihar state chief Nitish Kumar.
Since 2019, when the BJP won by a landslide in the national elections and offered its allies only token representation in the Council of Ministers, Nitish Kumar opposed the idea. He also rejected the BJP's suggestion of his lawmaker being made a central minister.
However, R.C.P. Singh reportedly chose to ignore his party head Nitish Kumar's warnings against becoming the federal steel minister last year. But Singh's tenure in the Steel Ministry didn't last long. He was forced to resign from the position after he was denied another Rajya Sabha term by the JD(U).
In India, one needs to be a member of either house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha, to be a minister.

After he resigned from the JD(U) on Saturday, Singh called the party a "sinking ship," further angering Nitish Kumar. "There is nothing left in this party. JD(U) is a sinking ship," Singh said at a press conference.

The JD(U), however, believes that Singh is a proxy used by the BJP to cut the wings of Nitish Kumar, as per a report by NDTV. This is perhaps the main reason why JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh accused the BJP of conspiring to weaken Nitish Kumar's hold on his own party.
Rajiv Ranjan Singh claimed that the BJP has been humiliating Nitish frequently, beginning with last year's state polls, in which the alliance won a majority, but the number of JD(U) legislators declined to just 45.
In the Bihar state legislature, the BJP has 77 lawmakers in the 288-member assembly and is the second largest party in the state behind the RJD's 80 legislators.
More recently, Nitish Kumar has missed two key meetings called by PM Modi in the last few weeks. His most recent snub coming on the weekend when 23 state chiefs attended a meeting of the federal government's top think tank, Niti Aayog, in Delhi, which Kumar skipped.
Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar has called a meeting of all the MPs and state legislators of his party on Tuesday to discuss a future course of action.
However, the JD(U) has officially rebuffed speculations of a rift with the BJP in Bihar.
But Rajiv Ranjan Singh said the party will not be a part of the federal government.

"The party had decided not to join the Union Cabinet in 2019 after the Lok Sabha elections. There is no change in our stand," Singh said at a press conference.

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