Grand alliance cracks as Nitish pokes fun at Lalu

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and coalition partner Nitish Kumar of Bihar teased Lalu Prasad on Wednesday, claiming that certain individuals present themselves as leaders by elevating their family members.

Nitish was speaking to a crowd at the Veterinary College Ground in the state capital to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of socialist hero and two-time chief minister Karpoori Thakur. Karpoori Thakur was nominated late on Tuesday for the Bharat Ratna award.

Nitish is the national president of JD(U), the organization that organized the gathering. He emphasized that the party had only appointed his son Ramakant Thakur as a minister and Rajya Sabha member after his death, and that Thakur had never elevated any of his family members.

Nitish said, “I also took a cue from Thakur and never gave my family member a political promotion.” Additionally, he made this comment at a time when Lalu is allegedly urging him to give up his position as chief minister and promote his deputy, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, to the position.

Nitish’s condemnation of “Parivarwad,” or family or dynasty dominance, is reminiscent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s frequent and scathing remarks against it. Nitish also specifically said that Modi did not call him when previous chief minister Karpoori Thakur was awarded the Bharat Ratna. “I want to thank him through the media for nominating him (Karpoori Thakur) for the Bharat Ratna award, the highest civilian award. The PM called Thakur’s son (Ramnath Thakur), but not me,” he said.

Nitish noted that Thakur was also the first to implement complete prohibition in the state in 1970, but it too was eventually abolished. Calling it an inappropriate conduct, he claimed that Thakur’s government had also collapsed subsequently. In 1977, Thakur was elected as a Chief Minister of the Janata Party twice. Even so, while he was carrying out the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission to set aside a quota for members of the lower classes in government employment, the then-Bhartiya Jan Sangh lost its support in 1979, and his administration collapsed.

At a separate RJD-hosted event, Lalu said that Karpoori Thakur deserved the Bharat Ratna award and that the Centre had not done the state or his family any favours by granting it posthumously.

During an event hosted by the RJD, Lalu Prasad said that the previous chief minister of Bihar deserved to receive the Bharat Ratna posthumously, and that neither the state nor the family of Karpoori Thakur had benefited from it.