BJP planning to forge a balance between its allies in Bihar amid tension

Tension between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Chirag Paswan is becoming evident

March to Gwalior

The state unit of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh has decided to temporarily shift its head office from Bhopal to Gwalior. A search is on for a bungalow for state unit president and former chief minister Kamal Nath. He will move to Gwalior and stay there till the by-elections to 24 seats are over. Of these 24 seats, 16 are in the Gwalior-Chambal region, where Jyotiraditya Scindia wields tremendous influence. The Congress appears to be struggling there after most of its local leaders switched loyalties, along with Scindia, to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress needs to win all the seats in the region to stake a claim to form the government again. The BJP has 107 MLAs in the 230-seat Assembly and needs just nine to stay in power.

Bihar balance

How is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) planning to forge a balance between its partners the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)― in Bihar? The state is going to the polls in four months and the simmering tension between Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Chirag Paswan (pictured), chief of the LJP, a key constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, is becoming evident with each passing day. After launching his campaign “Bihar First Bihari First” earlier this year, Paswan, along with his father and the founder of the party, Ram Vilas Paswan, has kept up pressure on the government with their subtle and often not so subtle digs at Kumar. Paswan junior has maintained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is his “leader”. On his part, the chief minister has tried to peg his campaign on the lines of “Vikaswad versus Laluwad” (development doctrine versus Lalu Prasad Yadav’s doctrine). Earlier this month, Raghavendra Bharati, Munger district president of the LJP, was shown the door for saying the Bihar alliance was “intact”. The LJP later clarified only Paswan junior was authorised to speak on the issue.

Sobering thought

There are enough reasons for the general sense of relief over the first signs of reduction of tensions on the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, with Chinese troops moving back from the site of the June 15 clashes at the Galwan Valley. But here is a sobering piece of information. On July 14, 1962, a leading newspaper had carried a banner headline that said: "Chinese troops withdraw from Galwan Post." The relief, however, was short-lived. Just 97 days later, the 1962 war happened.