Why Nitish Kumar, Bihar's development hero, is a lonely man today

Patna: Till a year ago, Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s own development man, was the envy of political rivals. He could do no wrong. The national media feted his development model. He ran one of the most trouble-free coalition governments. He played the caste card deftly to be in everyone’s good books. He even nursed the ambition to become the prime minister. Not many grudged it. What a comedown it has been for the chief minister in the last few months! The political isolation of Nitish Kumar appears complete at this moment. As he braces for the toughest electoral battle of his career, he has no ally to fall back on; the castes that backed him through two elections have started abandoning him; and his own party men don’t trust his leadership acumen anymore. The more Narendra Modi, his arch rival, expands his influence on his turf, the more cornered Nitish looks. [caption id=“attachment_1390509” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in this file photo. PTI[/caption] In the politically significant Bihar, the major rivals - the BJP and the RJD - have firmed up strong alliances. The BJP has been busy expanding its social base by inviting small caste groups into its front. It has tied up with Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP and many other smaller parties with pockets of influence among castes they represent. The RJD has tied up with the Congress and the NCP to buttress its pre-poll position. Nitish’s JD(U) is left with virtually no partners. The party expected to rope in support from the ambitious 11-party non-Congress, non-BJP front. The front has proved to be non-starter. He expected the Left to back him in Bihar, but the former seems in no mood to oblige - they don’t want to lose their captive votes by ceding more seats to the JD(U). Nitish, who heads JD(U)’s alliance matters, was willing to offer only two seats to the CPI and one for the CPM. Both parties look prepared to go it alone now, leaving JD(U) alone against two formidable alliances. Before he severed the long-standing alliance with the BJP, the TMC of Mamata Banerjee and the Congress looked interested in him. In a move that defies reason, Nitish gave a 24-hour deadline to the Congress to fulfill his long-pending demand of granting special category status to Bihar before proceeding on another Yatra to expose the step-motherly treatment to his home state. The timing was wrong. It drove the Congress to RJD’s embrace. Nitish, once all-powerful within the JD(U), stands isolated within his party too. His fast loosening grip over the party is underlined from the fact that the man who would once enjoy firm control over the organisation and bulldoze all opposition, now refuses to act against rebelling leaders publicly challenging his authority. One of them, agriculture minister Narendra Singh has questioned the move of the chief minister to make announcements of party candidates at the election rallies without consulting the party leaders or discussing the issue at the party’s parliamentary board. “Rah chalet ticket bantana band karen (stop distributing tickets during visits)…It demoralizes the grassroots party workers,” Singh complained to Nitish during a recent meeting. He said guests were welcome in the party but it was unfair to instantly hand them over tickets. He also sought the constitution of a party parliamentary board to decide the name of candidates. The JD(U) never constituted any parliamentary board in the past three elections—one Lok Sabha and two state assembly polls it fought. Nitish, and Nitish only, doled out tickets. Another JD(U) legislator Gyanendra Singh Gyanoo, who was once considered quite close to the chief minister, too has raised accusing fingers towards Nitish over ticket distribution. “Genuine party workers are being sidelined whereas the turncoats are easily walking away with tickets,” alleged Gyanoo, who also supported the resignation by industry minister Renu Kushwaha. Kushwaha was among only two leaders who had been with Nitish since Samata Party days. The JD (U) boss also faces erosion of his vote own base. The BJP, led by Narendra Modi, has gone all out to woo the caste Kurmi and its sub-castes, Koeri and Kushwaha. Members of all three had been backing Nitish so far as he is a Kurmi. Today, however, Nitish faces “trust deficit” among his caste man as there appears a mad scramble among them to quit the JD(U) to cross over to the BJP. In the past few days, at least three prominent leaders from his own community have joined the BJP.