In politics, at times your own allies are your potential rivals. That is precisely what is happening in Bihar right now between the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). For a long time, rather for decades together, the Congress has remained satisfied playing second fiddle to the RJD.
But not anymore, as the situation and the circumstances in Bihar have changed. The RJD is no longer the same as it was decades ago. Tejashwi Yadav is not Lalu Prasad Yadav. The senior Yadav has already retired from active political life owing to his ill health.
Right now, the bone of contention between the otherwise two staunch allies is the announcement of the Chief Ministerial candidate by the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance). Tejashwi Yadav has made it repeatedly clear that the grand alliance must go to the polls only after announcing the Chief Ministerial candidate, which he considers himself to be.
While the Congress should ideally have no reservations in accepting him as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the grand alliance, the party appears to be keen on deriving a better political bargain before conceding that demand.
For decades now, the Congress has remained on the margins and under the shadow of the RJD. It has remained at a distant fourth place after the Janata Dal-United, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the RJD. However, after the 16-day ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ taken out by Rahul Gandhi, with Tejashwi in tow, the Congress has turned into a buoyant and robust mood. The ‘yatra’ witnessed huge crowds all along the route. Even the ruling JDU-BJP alliance has taken note of it. But more than that, it is the RJD that has not only taken note of it but has taken it quite seriously.
The RJD believes, and to a large extent rightly so, that the crowds were mobilised by it for the ‘yatra’, as the Congress has a nominal presence in Bihar. In the entire ‘yatra’, Tejashwi remained completely overshadowed by Rahul’s imposing presence. The Congress capitalised on the success of the ‘yatra’, terming it more of its own success than that of the ‘grand alliance’ together. Besides the RJD, the leaders of other smaller parties also participated in the ‘yatra’.
The import of the message was not lost on the RJD, Lalu or Tejashwi either. Tejashwi took out a “solo” yatra for six days, exclusively on his own, where he was supported and cheered by his own cadres. There were no leaders from other grand alliance parties. The message was clear that it was an answer to Gandhi’s yatra. And it was during his own ‘yatra’ that Tejashwi insisted on the issue of the grand alliance declaring its Chief Ministerial candidate ahead of the polls.
The Congress obviously has been trying to avoid the issue and bide time. At the same time, it appears to be grooming former student leader Kanhaiya Kumar for a bigger role. This was obvious during the extended meeting of the Congress Working Committee held in Patna today.
The very fact that the Congress decided to hold its extended CWC meeting in Patna was a message too loud and too clear to be missed by anyone. It was after 85 years that the Congress held a national-level programme/meeting in Bihar. The last time was before independence when the Congress held its session in Ramgarh in Bihar in 1940.
At the conclusion of the extended CWC meeting, the all-powerful Congress general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal addressed a press conference along with senior party leaders and also those from Bihar. While he himself spoke on the overall meeting, Jairam Ramesh spoke about the political resolution passed in the CWC meeting, which included a ‘Bihar-specific’ resolution.
Kanhaiya Kumar was specially made to speak on the Bihar resolution, despite the Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram also being present during the press conference. The message was clear that the party was grooming and propping up Kumar for a bigger role. He too is young like Tejashwi and is a much more powerful orator. In fact, there is no comparison between him and Tejashwi when it comes to public speaking.
The Congress’ robust overreach notwithstanding, it does not have much scope or space to enter into any confrontation with the RJD. Any misunderstanding, if it goes into the public domain, will prove to be of great advantage to the ruling JDU-BJP alliance. The Congress eventually will have to give in to the RJD’s demands, including announcing the Chief Ministerial candidate, which obviously will be Tejashwi. But for the time being, it appears to be telling its ally in the grand alliance that it is preparing its own brigade of leaders as well.
Although Tejashwi, along with other grand alliance partners, did attend the Congress’ launching programme of ‘Atipichda Nyay Sankalp’, there was no visible chemistry between Rahul and Tejashwi, who were sitting on the two sides of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
It is not that the grand alliance will collapse, as the partners do not have any other option, but the coming days in the run-up to the Bihar elections will be quite eventful with aggressive posturing by every stakeholder. The indications have already started.
Bihar may have lagged behind in terms of social and economic development, politically the state remains as vibrantly robust as any other state in the country, probably more robust than many others, having produced great political stalwarts, including Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar, who are very much around.
Also Read: Tejashwi feeling overshadowed by Rahul?
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