Cong vs Nitish: Storm in teacup?

The opposition parties had got used to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar taking his own independent position, irrespective of what other non-NDA parties did, on issues such as demonetisation, backing the NDA’s presidential nominee, or attending the midnight launch of the GST. But his recent spat with the Congress came as a surprise to many, including the Congress brass.

There are many reasons for the differences that have cropped up between the Congress and Nitish Kumar. The CM has spelt out some of them himself — that the Congress as the largest party in the Opposition has to create an “alternative narrative”, and not just oppose for the sake of opposing, as the Indian mood has undergone a change.

Without saying it in so many words, he has indicated his disappointment with the Congress continuing to act like the big brother. It did not strike a Mahagathbandhan in UP, with the JD(U) and smaller parties, as planned at one stage. Instead it hogged more than 100 seats. Or for that matter in Assam.

Then it was not the Congress which took the initiative to have a joint Opposition candidate for the post of the President, but Nitish Kumar who first suggested to Sonia Gandhi in April that she make the first move. Sonia swung into action by inviting 18 parties to her residence. Nitish Kumar, the Left parties, NCP and others agreed on the candidature of Gopal Krishna Gandhi and hoped that Rahul Gandhi would make the announcement in Chennai where many of the Opposition leaders had gathered to celebrate M Karunanidhi’s 93rd birthday. But that did not happen.

The Congress, obviously, had reservations with Gandhi’s candidature; its decision, possibly, governed by its old (Gandhi versus Gandhi) fears of projecting someone from the Mahatma’s family, Gopal Krishna Gandhi being his grandson.

The Opposition lost the initiative; and the BJP brass announced Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit face, as its candidate for Rashtrapati, and Nitish declared his support for him.

In reaction, the Congress plumped for Meira Kumar. But Nitish doesn’t gel with Meira Kumar. A woman from the larger Congress party, who is a Dalit from Bihar, and is not likely to make it to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, but has the potential to emerge as a prime ministerial candidate of the unified Opposition in 2019, though it is early days to make any such conjecture.

The fat was finally in the fire with the criticism, through innuendos, of Nitish Kumar by Ghulam Nabi Azad in Patna (“People who have one principle make one decision, but those who believe in many principles make different decisions.”). A stung Nitish retaliated by accusing the Congress of having “dumped Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology”, and acting arbitrarily.

The intra-party tensions within the JD(U) and the Congress are compounding the Nitish-Congress conflict. There have been murmurs in the JD(U) that a dozen MLAs may cross-vote for Meira Kumar, and senior JD(U) leaders are, reportedly, stoking these fires.

Inside the Congress, the old pro-Laloo lobby has activated itself, their ultimate objective being to dump Nitish Kumar, and form a RJD-Congress government in Patna. Together they have 107 MLAs and would need to break an additional 15 or so from the JD(U) and others to get past the hump.

Still, the continuation of the Mahagathbandhan is a need for Nitish Kumar, Laloo Yadav and the Congress. Joining the NDA brings no added value to Nitish Kumar, who is anyway a Chief minister with more freedom to work than he would possibly get in the NDA today — unless he is about to be toppled. Laloo, too, would not risk going out of power, particularly with cases on against his family members. Nor for that matter would the Congress.

But the Opposition has to contend with a formidable foe in the Modi-led BJP, which would try its utmost to drive a wedge in their ranks, so that they do not fashion a unity for the 2019 battle. It lost no time, for instance, in moving against benaami property owned by Laloo Yadav’s family. For it was Nitish, who was the loudest in calling for action against benaami property.

Each party in the Opposition is jostling for greater space and room for manoeuvre, even as they talk about a larger unity, which they know is the only way forward. This is no easy task, but, unfortunately, it is small politics, small goals and small agendas which still dominate their decision-making processes.

How would it really have mattered if the Congress had also attended the midnight launch of the GST, which was their baby after all, if nothing else, to prevent the Opposition cracks from showing?

How would it have mattered if the Opposition had plumped for Gopal Gandhi as their presidential choice? It was not as if he was going to win, but it would have signalled the Opposition’s seriousness about unity, and gone to create a strong public perception that they would hang in together on issues, big and small.

The author is a political and social commentator