Nitish Kumar: The one-man army with a strong focus on Opposition unity

He may have named Tejashwi Yadav as his deputy in government. But he has not announced a successor in the JD(U). Hopefuls like Upendra Kushwaha are voicing their displeasure

In his address to the recently concluded Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), national executive meeting, Bihar Chief Minister (CM) and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar focused more on Opposition unity, saying he would visit Delhi soon to begin efforts to bring parties together, particularly those opposed to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Right now, he is on a state-wide Samadhan Yatra to assess the progress of existing welfare programmes and pending projects. Given how bleak the future of his party looks, he might have been better placed doing a yatra to resolve those problems.

The JD(U) is a well-known state party in Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, and Manipur. But there appears to be no second-rank leadership within the party, and JD(U)’s existence, once founded with the alliance of stalwart leaders like George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav, is entirely reliant on the leading face of Nitish.

On the question of second-line leadership in the JD(U), the party’s National Spokesperson and Secretary-General K C Tyagi states, “There are a dozen people associated with the JP (Jayaprakash Narayan) movement in the party who were in jail for 19-20 months. There are scores who have served as Lok Sabha (LS) Members of Parliament four to five times and as ministers for 10-12 years. The party has a strong second-rank leadership, but Nitish is unparalleled. This question applies to all parties.”

According to him, there is no tradition of family succession in the JD(U). There are no family members of Fernandes or Sharad in the party. Nitish did not promote any of his family members and this is a distinct political outfit.

“Leadership problem exists in all parties, particularly regional outfits. If we consider taking the BJP as an example, the positive thing about this party is that, due to the lack of dynastic tradition, leadership was promoted in states and, to a large extent, things were done democratically in the past. The kind of political uncertainty that exists today was not present at the time. People remained with the party, even though they disagreed with the top leadership. This was also the tradition in the JD(U). But it no longer exists,” says a JD(U) senior leader.

A few disgruntled JD(U) leaders readily concede that a few decisions made by the top leadership has led to disappointment among dedicated party members when non-political people were being promoted and offered more opportunities than they deserved. They also explain how those people parted ways with the party - whether it was Prashant Kishore or Ram Chandra Prasad Singh and the current dissident. 

Surendra Kishore, a senior journalist from Bihar, says, “The position of JD(U) has weakened in relative terms and now its fate is linked to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The position of the mahagathbandhan appears better due to its affiliation with other parties, including Left-leaning parties.”

According to a JD(U) insider, the party is not dynastic and will split if Nitish names a successor in his lifetime.

“Why would Nitish take a risk like that? If he nominates someone, he will become the centre of power and it will impact the functioning of the party or the government. Today, no one declares his successor unless he has a family. Of course, the future of JD(U) is undoubtedly questionable. After Nitish, the party people will switch to other parties because there will be no leader like Nitish in the JD(U),” he observes.

The JD(U) is part of the government in Bihar and the second-largest party in Manipur. It also has a presence in Arunachal Pradesh. In the 2019 general election, the JD(U) won 16 seats to become the seventh-largest party in the LS. The party had been in a long association with the BJP in the Centre and state.

The Samata Party, led by Fernandes and Nitish, merged with the Sharad faction of the Janata Dal in 2003 to form the JD(U).

The recent controversy started when Nitish wished to forge unity among Opposition parties before the 2024 general elections, and he gave an indirect indication that his successor may be Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.

Rebel JD(U) leader Upendra Singh Kushwaha, who was supposedly denied being named his second deputy, besides Tejashwi, lashed out at the engineer-turned-politician Nitish.

“I am requesting Nitish to take steps to save the party. The question is not about me leaving the party. It is about saving the party. Some people are forcibly making him do things,” he said.

“Kushwaha has walked out of the party twice before. I told him that if there is any genuine complaint, he can raise it within the party forum. The BJP is engaged in breaking all parties and Kushwaha himself is involved in campaigning that he has the support of many leaders. But there’s no doubt that JD(U)’s existence is entirely dependent on Nitish,” says Tyagi.

A political analyst from the AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies in Patna says that JD(U) leaders have ambitions but lack the fortitude to do anything remarkable. “How can they become an alternative to Nitish? Nitish’s only drawback is that he does not take hard-hitting action against corruption,” he adds.