PATNA: Rattled by rising conflicts among allies in the coalition government he heads, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar now plans to placate his allies – RJD and Congress – by holding monthly discussions with workers of the three parties.
The idea of a face-to-face session between the chief minister and workers of all the three parties of the ruling ‘maha gathbandhan’ (grand alliance) was reportedly mooted by RJD, the largest of the three parties. In recent months, there had been several reports about the lack of coordination among the three parties and smouldering conflicts among them getting worse due to Kumar’s alleged indifference to the concerns of RJD and Congress.
“Workers and leaders of the three allies will together have a dialogue with the chief minister once every month. It will be on the last Monday of the month. The CM will listen to the grievances of workers of all the three parties,” said deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav on Thursday.
The new exercise is seen as RJD’s efforts to prevent Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) from “hijacking” all the credit for development schemes presently in operation in the state. With Kumar being in his third term as Bihar’s chief minister and having considerable control over the alliance government and the bureaucracy, JD(U)’s two allies have reportedly been feeling marginalised. Leaders and workers of RJD and Congress have often complained in subdued tones that the problems faced by them in their respective constituencies were not getting enough attention from the CM.
Senior leaders of the three parties would also be present at this discussion with Kumar, said Yadav. Interestingly, with the announcement of this upcoming event coming from Yadav, and not Kumar himself, at a time when Kumar was away from Patna, there was speculation about renewed conflicts between JD(U) and RJD.
“Lists of party workers and leaders would be sent to the chief minister from each party’s office. He will listen to each worker’s grievance as per that list. We will decide a date for this event very soon,” said Yadav.