dna exclusive: August inaugural for Cong-JD(U) alliance

The JD(U) may come closer to the Congress once the six-member panel appointed by the Centre to study the composite state development index certifies Bihar as a backward state. A member of the committee, headed by Raghuram Rajan, told dna on Thursday that the committee’s index would be ready latest by the first week of August and it looks as though that Bihar might fulfill the criteria for a state which is seriously lagging behind. Said JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari from Patna, “We will revisit our relationship with the Congress once Bihar is categorised as a backward state by the Central panel.”

Already, there is a degree of bonhomie between the Congress and the JD(U) after the latter disengaged itself from its 17-year-old alliance with the BJP. “We had not asked for their support. They voted for us in the trust motion on their own.” Tewari said, explaining that that were not really expecting the Congress backing so early, immediately after having walked out of the NDA.

Tewari said that it was too premature to reflect on the possibility of a more concrete relationship between the two parties but agreed that the nature of politics in Bihar was going to change in more ways than one. He said: “A lot depends on the report of the panel which should lead to greater devolution of resources to an underdeveloped Bihar.”

If the JD(U) inches closer to the Congress in early August, then both parties would enter into a working relationship, whereby the Congress ensures the JD(U)-led government enjoys a majority in the Bihar assembly while the JD(U) lends a corresponding support to the Congress in Parliament. The JD(U) has 20 MPs and it means the Congress can be free of its over-reliance on an otherwise unreliable Samajwadi Party.

Such a development does not necessarily mean that the Congress and the JD(U) would enter into a pre-poll tie up in Bihar. Congress sources said that the party would prefer to keep its options open, implying that it could either go with Lalu Prasad Yadav or Nitish Kumar depending on who gets the large number of seats in the 2014 polls. But, on the whole, the party will maintain a cordial relationship with a “secular” JD(U), never distancing a party which had taken on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi so aggressively.

The JD(U) desperately wants the official backward tag for Bihar, expecting more funds to flow to the cash-starved province once the Planning Commission is moved by official data to be more benevolent towards Patna. Nitish Kumar had earlier addressed a well-attended rally in the national capital a few months ago to drive his point home. The JD(U) wants these financial benefits to accrue to the state much before the next assembly elections slated for 2015.

Talking to dna, the member of the composite state development index panel said the old criteria were being given up and that they were working on 30 to 32 variables to decide the criteria for backwardness. They are expected to finalise these variables shortly and draw up the ranking of the states. States which might earn themselves the backward label are Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, UP, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.

Tewari, who is considered close to Nitish Kumar, said the JD(U) was enthusiastic about the Third Front but discussions had only just begun and the concerned parties had miles to go before they stitched up an alliance. Other JD(U) sources confirmed that whether the party would advance its relationship with Congress or possible Third Front partners would hinge on the economic support the state secures from New Delhi.