All’s not well between Nitish, rest of the Opposition: 5 signs of friction in Bihar and INDIA alliances

With the possibility of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar making yet another switch to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) growing stronger on Thursday, its Mahagathbandhan ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) held a meeting in Patna. There have been quite a few reports of tension and a growing rift between the two parties over the past few weeks, and the JD(U) and other parties of the INDIA alliance have also had differences.

* Comments of Lalu’s daughter

The latest point of friction was Nitish’s remarks on Wednesday in which he appeared to target dynastic rule while paying homage to former Bihar CM and socialist icon Karpoori Thakur at his centenary celebrations.

“Karpoori never promoted his family,” Nitish said at a public meeting in Patna on Wednesday. “It was only after his death, we pressured his son Ramnath to join politics. He is now Rajya Sabha MP and we respect him very much. Lekin aajkal to log parivar karte rahte hai … aaj log bahut parivar ko badhate rahte hai (these days, people keep promoting their family members in politics). But like Karpoori, I have not promoted my family in politics.”

Though Nitish did not name any party, the BJP has targeted the RJD and the Congress in the past for allegedly promoting “dynastic politics”. On Thursday, Lalu’s Singapore-based daughter Rohini Acharya posted, subsequently deleted, on social media platform X: “Samajwadi purodha hone ka dawa karta wahi dawa hai, hawaon ki tarah badalti jinki vichardhara hai (One whose ideology changes with the direction of the wind claims to be the patron of socialism).” There was also said to be little interaction between Nitish and Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, which went on for about just 20 mins.

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