Day after Nitish filed RS nomination, JD(U) workers continue to vent spleen

JD(U) workers on Friday continued to protest the decision of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to enter the Rajya Sabha, a move seen as signalling the end of his more than two-and-a-half-decade-long stint in Bihar politics.

At the JD(U) office here, situated right across the street from the BJP's state headquarters, irate party workers staged a demonstration alleging that "traitors" had hatched a "conspiracy" with the alliance partner to "get rid of" their leader, who had been an eyesore for the "powerful liquor lobby" ever since he brought prohibition.

"There are some people in our party who are playing the role of Jaichand (12th-century Rajput chieftain who aided Afghan invader Muhammad Ghori). One is in the Union cabinet, and the other has come from the BJP and is lording over us now", an irate JD(U) worker alleged.

 

The allusion was to Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, an old aide of Nitish Kumar and a former party president, and Sanjay Kumar Jha, the JD(U)'s working president, who had started as a BJP youth wing worker in the 1990s.

Neither Lalan nor Jha has responded to the allegations that have been levelled against them ever since Kumar filed his nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls on Thursday, minutes after announcing his intent on social media.

JD(U) workers alleged that "the BJP is playing the same trick against Nitish Kumar that it had played against Karpoori Thakur, who faced the ire of the Jan Sangh upon implementation of prohibition. We have learnt that a deal worth crores has been struck between traitors of our party and the BJP. They have been paid heavily by the powerful liquor lobby to get rid of Nitish Kumar, which would pave the way for the scrapping of the ban on liquor".

Notably, the ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol in the state was clamped by Nitish Kumar in April 2016, following an electoral promise he had made to the state's women several months earlier.

The JD(U) workers also said, "The BJP needs to be taught a lesson. They gave the slogan of '400 paar' in parliamentary polls and ended up losing the majority. They are running the government at the Centre with our help. On the other hand, in Bihar, when our slogan 'pachis se tees, phir se Nitish' (Nitish once again, from 2025-30) was adopted by the NDA, the coalition got a thumping majority. Now that they have plotted against our leader, they will have to pay for it in Bihar".

In front of the chief minister's residence, situated a couple of kilometres away, stood a sprightly JD(U) worker, Amarendra Das Trilok, holding aloft a placard urging Kumar to reconsider his decision.

"I am not aware of any conspiracy that may have led to this drastic step. But I am here to express my anguish over the decision of my leader to abandon Bihar. We feel orphaned. The state is indebted to him. He must not leave us in the lurch", said Trilok.

When JD(U) spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar was approached with queries about the turmoil in the party, he said, "It is natural for our cadres to feel tormented. In their angst, they are saying a number of things. I personally do not think Nitish Kumar is a leader who can be made to act under any type of pressure. But our top leadership must assuage the ruffled feathers".

Former state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal declined to comment on the allegations made by a section of JD(U) workers, saying, "Nitish Kumar took a decision that we respect. I am not privy to what is going to be the shape of the new government that will be formed after he gets elected to the Rajya Sabha. It is a thing that will be decided by our top leadership."  Replying to a query, Jaiswal, who is now a minister in the state cabinet, said, "I am not at all in the race for the chief minister's post. Who will occupy the post and whether he will be from our party or not are things which only our top leadership can comment upon".

Meanwhile, a senior JD(U) leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told PTI, "A meeting of the legislative party has been called at the chief minister's residence late in the evening. Besides briefing the legislators about the recent developments, a decision will also be taken on the role to be assigned, in the party, to Nishant".

Notably, the party had announced a couple of days ago that Nitish Kumar, who had formerly been averse to "dynasty politics," had agreed to launch his only son, in a move that is seen as an attempt to prevent the party from disintegration after the supreme leader, who turned 75 last week, hangs up his boots.