Nitish Kumar the prime mover for INDIA front, yet to get 'appropriate recognition' from alliance partners
Reportedly over the past decade, bihar has witnessed several political shifts and dynamic changes in relationships among its senior leaders. As the opposition india bloc approaches the crucial seat-sharing stage for the 2024 lok sabha polls, speculations are rife over Nitish Kumar’s call for a central committee meeting on december 29 amid murmurs of friction in Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United) party. Political observers say all is not well in Kumar’s JD(U), with its national president Rajiv Ranjan aka Lalan Singh allegedly veering towards Lalu prasad and other senior members of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). However, a section of JD(U) and RJD leaders dismisses this as a “political hypothesis and rumour mongering” by their rivals to create confusion ahead of the seat-sharing process.Meanwhile Kumar, despite being the prime mover for the india front, is yet to get “appropriate recognition” from alliance partners, which upset him, said a senior leader of his party who did not want to be named. This is also linked to the alleged fissures surfacing between the RJD and the JD(U) both constituents of the opposition alliance.In a recent meeting of the india bloc, West bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee and delhi Chief minister arvind kejriwal proposed senior congress leader mallikarjun Kharge’s name as the alliance’s prime ministerial data-face in 2024. The JD(U), on the other hand, has been campaigning for Kumar as the top contender. Navin Upadhyay, a senior political analyst from bihar, said Kumar is visibly upset. “He was expecting to be announced as the convener of the india bloc. He also expected Lalan Singh to make the move. Everything does not seem right between nitish kumar and Lalan Singh. The state ministers and MLAs of his party, too, are not happy with Singh. He is a Bhumihar leader, but he does not have much contribution to the caste cauldron of Nitish Kumar’s party.