The absence of Nitish Kumar from the oath taking ceremony of President Droupadi Murmu added fuel to the rumour mill of a deepening crisis within the ruling Bihar NDA. The two allies Janata Dal United and Bharatiya Janata Party are not at best of terms as, very often, leaders of both the parties cross swords.
As far as Nitish Kumar is concerned, the oath taking ceremony of the president was the third NDA event that he avoided taking part in. Earlier, he gave a miss to the dinner hosted by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the honor of outgoing president Ram Nath Kovind.
On the other hand, Nitish sent deputy chief minister and BJP leader Tarkishore Prasad to take part in a meeting held on the call of Home Minister Amit Shah to deliberate on the issues related to the national flag.
The tension between the two allies rose to a new height recently over alleged terror module in the state. The comparison of Popular Front of India with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh by Patna SSP Manavjit Singh Dhillon triggered a row. The agitated BJP demanded action against SSP while JDU maintained that the decision of any action against the SSP is beyond the purview of the government. It must be mentioned that within hours after the SSP’s statement Bihar police issued a notice seeking clarification from him.
A fews days back, Sanjay Jaiswal alleged that the anti-national and terror activities has been rapidly growing in Bihar. On Monday, JDU’s parliamentary board Upendra Kushwaha, strongly reacting to the statement, cautioned BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal and other party leaders against baseless remarks.
Kushwaha said that if the BJP president has more insight on the issue than investigative agencies, he should share those inputs with the concerned authorities else he may be charged for hiding evidence.
He said that the perception of all is not well within NDA made due to unnecessary comments made by the state BJP leaders.
On the other hand, Kushwaha played down the issue of Nitish Kumar’s absence in the oath taking ceremony of the president. “The Chief Minister looks after a lot of work. It is not possible for him to register his presence on every occasion. The election of the president has already concluded. Swearing in is just a formality”, he said.
