Bihar political potboiler: Who is Nitish Kumar's nemesis who pushed JD(U) to part ways with BJP

New Delhi: Often called ‘vote katwa’ or someone who would contest solely to ruin the prospects of other candidates, Chirag Pawan, leader of Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), would be the happiest at the latest turn of events in Bihar politics as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) has parted ways with the BJP-led NDA.

Finally, he has dented Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar so much so that he is on the anvil of joining his arch-enemy Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nitish’s only option which only political expediency may dictate, given his sour experience with RJD in the last experiment with the aggressive and young Tejashwi Yadav.

Chirag Pawan has never tried to hide his disdain for Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

He had said once that he was proud that people considered that his party had reduced JD(U) to a third-rater after the BJP and RJD in the 2020 Bihar assembly elections. Chirag had fielded candidates against the JD(U) in the Bihar polls and had achieved what he had wanted: reducing the JD(U) to the third position, forcing Nitish to form a government with the BJP though as a junior partner.

Chirag h ad also defended his decision to field candidates against the JD(U) in the Bihar assembly elections in 2020.

“We never concealed our intentions. We believed the JD(U) headed by Kumar needed to be weakened and we succeeded. We wanted to make the BJP stronger and its heft has increased unquestionably,” Paswan said.

Just after the 2020 Bihar assembly election results, JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi had rued: “The LJP damaged the prospect of the JD(U) in 25 to 30 seats. Had the LJP not pitted its candidates against us, the JD(U)’s tally would have gone beyond 80 seats. The BJP should consider taking action against Chirag Paswan – an NDA component at the Centre.”

Nitish Kumar in his very first interaction with the media after the 2020 results had squarely blamed Chirag Paswan Lok Janshakti Part (the party split only later) for the Janata Dal (United)’s debacle: it was reduced to 43 seats against its tally of 71 in the 2015 assembly elections.

Yesterday, Chirag Paswan had again targeted Nitish Kumar. He dared Nitish Kumar to confront the BJP directly, rather than blaming him for denting Kumar’s popularity as part of some conspiracy.

“Never before has one heard of a party accusing its own former national president of corruption. But, this is Nitish Kumar for you,” Paswan added, referring to former JD(U) national president RCP Singh.

Meanwhile BJP insiders told Firstpost that the current divorce between JD(U) and the BJP can be attributed to Chirag Pawan as the very first step that put Nitish Kumar in a difficult position to begin with. It was the political ramifications of being a chief minister as a junior partner in the BJP-led NDA government in Bihar that finally led to the break-up.

“Had Chirag Pawan not fought against the JD(U) candidates, of course, the NDA would have fared much better in the Bihar assembly polls last time, but at the same time the biggest loser was Nitish Kumar. And, yes, the BJP did come up as the single biggest party in the elections, and out of the shadow of JD(U),” said a BJP leader.

Insiders in the Bihar government and sources close to Nitish Kumar told Firstpost that the chief minister had been increasingly wary of the right control the BJP had on the regime, the CM being the junior partner and the BJP wielding and exercising the heft of Big Brother in the alliance.

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