'BJP Was Waiting To Get Rid Of Nitish Kumar'

'The BJP must have decided to replace Nitish with a green signal from JD-U leaders close to him.'

Shivanand Tiwari, in his early 80s, is a seasoned politician known for his socialist leanings. Widely seen as one of the few leaders in Bihar who keeps a close watch on political developments, he regularly shares his views on social media.

Tiwari, a former Bihar minister and former Rajya Sabha member, was closely associated with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad as well as Bihar's longest-serving chief minister Nitish Kumar.

It is a different matter that today Tiwari is regarded as a friend-turned-foe of both Lalu and Nitish.

No more active in politics, Tiwari still packs a sharp repartee, Despite being away from party politics and elections, his stand on any issue matters because he began his political journey as a student leader with Lalu-Nitish in Jayaprakash Narayan's movement against the Emergency.

With Nitish Kumar all set to step down as CM, the move has saddened JD-U leaders, workers and supporters and triggered a fresh debate about his sidelining by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is eyeing to replace him with one of its leaders.

"BJP has decided to replace Nitish with the full support of his party leaders around him," Shivanand Tiwari tells M I Khan.

Why is Nitish Kumar leaving hardly four months after being voted to power in the Bihar assembly polls?

Look, I am not a psychoanalyst to say why Nitish Kumar is leaving the top chair.

How long would the BJP have kept him in the CM's chair in view of his physical and mental health? The BJP was waiting for such time to get rid of him.

It seems Nitish's health condition is not fit. He is not in a position to rule or run the government.

Taking this situation as opportune, the BJP played its game. The BJP must have decided to replace Nitish with a green signal from JD-U leaders close to him.

The BJP has been eyeing for long to place its own leader as chief minister for the first time in Bihar. The time has come now.

The BJP was part of the coalition government led by Karpoori Thakur in the 1970s. The BJP was part of the government led by Nitish Kumar since 2005.

Why didn't JD-U leaders close to Nitish Kumar convince him not to hand over the chief minister's chair to the BJP?

Those leaders around him or close to him have no ideological commitment. All of them have nothing to do with ideological politics.

Take, for instance, JD-U working President Sanjay Jha, a Rajya Sabha MP known for his closeness to Nitish, who enjoys clout in the Nitish-centric party. He has come from the BJP. It was Arun Jaitley who sent him to the JD-U, it is a well-known truth.

Another close leader is Union Minister Lalan Singh, whose commitment is to his own self only. He has nothing to do with ideology. Others are more or less the same. There is no one close to Nitish Kumar with ideological leaning.

'Nitish Kumar has never had any ideological commitment'

What about Nitish's ideological leanings?

Nitish Kumar has never had any ideological commitment. It is a different matter that Nitish tried his best to make his own image closely connected with Mahatma Gandhi by launching his yatra from West Champaran, associated with Gandhi's satyagraha, building the Gandhi Tower, Bapu Sabhaghar and other things to promote Gandhi's ideas.

Politics without principles is one of the seven social sins stated by Mahatma Gandhi.

Ironically, Nitish has been doing the same, that must have come to his mind at night before sleep.

But there was a time when Nitish Kumar was uncomfortable with Narendra Modi's rise at the national level, which resulted in the break-up of his alliance with the BJP in 2013.

It is true that after a full page newspaper advertisement featuring a photograph of Modi holding aloft Nitish Kumar's hand appeared in 2010, it angered Nitish so much that he cancelled a dinner he was to host for visiting BJP delegates including Modi at his official residence that evening.

But the same Nitish Kumar is bowing and touching Modi's feet now.

'Nitish has been promoting Samrat Choudhary for CM'

Who will be the next CM?

In recent days Nitish Kumar was seen as indirectly supporting Samrat Choudhary for the CM post. Samrat was in the JD-U before joining the BJP in 2018.

Nitish has been promoting Samrat, who is an imported leader in the BJP, that may or may not be liked by BJP leaders from an RSS background.

Nitish Kumar was against parivaarvaad, now his son Nishant Kumar has joined the JD-U. How do you look at this political development?

His opposition to parivaarvaad was nothing but a part of his politics.

There was no one in his family who could join politics. His son has been forced into politics. I will not say anything about his son.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff