Nitish’s silence on Rajya Sabha move during ‘yatra’ raises eyebrows

Patna: The ongoing Samriddhi Yatra of CM Nitish Kumar has thrown up an interesting development that has drawn widespread attention. While the CM himself has remained mysteriously silent over his Rajya Sabha nomination, for which he filed papers earlier this month, his allies and colleagues have repeatedly reminded people that he may soon step down from his post. This happened almost everywhere Nitish travelled during his yatra in the Kosi-Seemanchal region.

On Friday again, crowds in Saharsa appeared amused when two senior NDA leaders — deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary (BJP) and parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary (JD-U), who hold the No. 2 and No. 4 positions respectively in the NDA govt — spoke about the CM’s possible move to Delhi. During the arrival of the yatra in Supaul and Purnia as well, the crowds were reminded about the CM’s next move, though it was also mentioned that Nitish remained “indispensable” for the state.




While thanking the crowd for reposing faith in Nitish’s leadership for the past 20 years, the JD(U) minister suddenly referred to the CM’s possible departure from the state but added that the next govt could not function without Nitish’s “guidance”.

“In the coming days, the new NDA govt will come to power in the state but ‘Hamare CM ke baradhast aur disha-nirdesh ke nahin chalegi’ (But the next govt just can’t run without the guidance and blessings of our CM),” JD(U) minister Vijay Choudhary told the crowd.

On the other hand, Samrat Choudhary repeatedly maintained that “Nitish is not going anywhere”.

“Aaaj bhi Nitish Kumar ji ke netritv me Bihar mein sarkar chal rahi hai aur kal bhi NDA ki sarkar, Nitish Kumar ke margdarshan me chalegi (The NDA govt is today led by Nitish Kumar and the next NDA govt in Bihar tomorrow too will run under his guidance),” Samrat said in Saharsa.

A day earlier, Samrat repeated the same line in Purnia during the Samriddhi Yatra, while in Supaul he said, “Nitish is not going anywhere... He will guide us future too.”

Rural development minister Shrawan Kumar appeared somewhat irritated on Friday when asked whether the next chief minister would be from the BJP.

“Any decision about who will be the CM will be taken with the consent of top NDA leaders,” Kumar told the media on Friday.

Asked specifically whether a BJP chief minister was acceptable to them, he replied, “NDA neta mil-baithkar faisala lenge...rajnitik faisla ke paksha mein khada rahna padta hai (The NDA leaders will jointly take this decision and they need to display solidarity over such issue).”

Asked about the growing demand for the CM’s son Nishant Kumar to become the chief minister, the rural development minister said that this was an issue to be addressed by senior leaders. Shrawan Kumar is considered very close to Nitish.

Speculation about the next chief minister of Bihar has intensified shortly after Nitish filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections on March 5 in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah and other NDA leaders, triggering protests within sections of the JD(U).