PARTY COLLEAGUES OPPOSED TO NITISH CHOOSING TEJASHWI AS SUCCESSOR

In the last one week, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has twice stated that the de facto chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav will be his successor.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Kumar, apart from being the supreme leader of the JDU, is also the leader of the Mahagathbandhan or the Grand Alliance comprising seven parties that are ruling Bihar. On 12 December, Kumar, while speaking at a public event in his home district of Nalanda, in the presence of Yadav and his other cabinet colleagues, said that Yadav needed to be pushed forward for the state’s future. The next day, while interacting with the media in Patna outside the state Assembly, Kumar, while responding to reporters’ queries and holding the hand of Yadav, said the latter would lead the 2025 campaign instead of him. Kumar, holding Yadav’s hand, said, “Ekdum karega, samajh gaye na (Absolutely, he will. Do you understand)?”

It is pertinent to mention that these statements should be read in the backdrop of two incidents that have taken place in the past. On 5 November 2020, while addressing an election rally in Purnia for the Assembly election, an emotional Kumar had announced that it was his last election. Almost two years later, in October 2022, the RJD national executive, which was held in New Delhi, passed resolutions that gave the right to Tejashwi Yadav to change the party’s Constitution, name and symbol, a legal necessity that is needed for any party to merge with any other party.