PATNA: Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal created a political storm by claiming RJD had total sway over Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD (U) as RJD would not only ensure the merger of JD (U) with RJD but also the elevation of deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav to the post of CM.
Jaiswal said that JD (U) leaders who once contested against RJD would be subservient to Tejashwi once the latter became chief minister and JD (U) merged with RJD.
“It all depends on Tejashwi's desire when he wants to become chief minister and how much sympathy he has for Nitish before he asks the latter to merge his party with RJD and relinquishes the post of CM for him,” Jaiswal added.
RJD had recently passed a resolution, authoring party chief Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi to change the name and symbol of the party, triggering speculation over the possibility of JD (U) merging with RJD.
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari said that the party's rank and file were solidly behind Tejashwi. He said that the possibility of a JD (U)-RJD merger could not be completely ruled out.
JD (U) leaders, however, remain elusive on the possibility of their party merging with RJD by taking the plea that it was an internal matter of the party.
Ever since the formation of the RJD-led grand alliance government in the state, there has also been intense speculation that Nitish would move to national politics and offer his CM post to Tejashwi. State RJD president Jagdanand Singh had even created a flutter that Tejashwi would be chief minister in 2023 while Nitish would move to national politics.
Singh was, however, forced to amend his statement as leaders of both RJD and JD (U) were apparently rattled by it and said there was no time frame when Tejashwi would become chief minister of the state. Tejashwi also came forward and claimed he was in no hurry to become the chief minister of the state.
Speculations over the resurrection of the old Janata Dal of the 1990s have also been getting intense over a period of time. The Janata Dal, by the late 1990s, had broken up several times. In 2015, attempts were made for a merge of the ‘Janata Parivar’ when Nitish was with Lalu but it could not materialise.
Three rounds of talks were also held in Delhi, however, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav reportedly did not show interest at the later stage as there were differences over the division of assets among various members of Janata Parivar.