Nitish Kumar dreads poaching, BJP’s Bihar plan for 2024 Lok Sabha elections

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, July 5: Dramatic coup within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by Ajit Pawar against his uncle Sharad Pawar is ringing alarm bells in Bihar. The ruling Janata Dal (United) is learnt to be sensing poaching attempts by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is holding meetings with the JD (U) leaders in batches to take stock of the situation in the party. Informed sources said that the chief minister wants to be doubly sure that his party MPs don’t bolt ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh has also met Kumar as part of the exercise, informed sources said, as the chief minister is apparently checking on the with the JD (U) MPs and other leaders to keep his flock together and ward off the potential poaching attempts by the BJP.

“Bihar and Maharashtra have a lot in common, politically speaking. In Maharashtra, the BJP was facing a formidable challenge in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The BJP weakened the opponent by engineering a split in the NCP. The BJP is facing an equally strong rival in the Mahagathbandhan which is a strong alliance of the JD (U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress, and the Left parties. The BJP may target the JD (U) for a similar strategy as worked on the NCP,” said a senior JD (U) functionary.

The BJP and the JD (U) had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election and the Bihar Assembly poll as alliance partners. But the JD (U) broke ranks with the BJP, while the Bihar chief minister is spearheading the unity efforts among the Opposition parties.

The BJP, sources said, may attempt to exploit the insecurities among the incumbent members of Parliament about their prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has been maintaining that the JD (U) MPs in the Lok Sabha owe their victories to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Mahagathbandhan constituents are yet to work out their seat adjustment pact for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, and the JD (U) may have to cede space to the alliance partners.

The BJP on the other hand is without a big alliance partner with only the Lok Jan Shakti Party of Pashupati Kumar Paras being in the NDA. The BJP is seeking to work out arrangements to induct a few more smaller allies in Bihar ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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