Not long ago, chief minister Nitish Kumar was a regular morning-walker at the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, not too far from 1 Aney Marg, his official residence. But now he walks in the garden on the premises of his sprawling official house. He neither meets anyone nor talks to anyone while walking in the morning.
'He has probably stopped walking in the zoo to avoid people,” said a senior JD (U) leader. Another added: “Nitish speaks to the ones he wants to. He conducts himself in such a way that nobody from his own party or the Opposition can speak to him unless he (Nitish) wants them to speak.” But the BJP president and noted doctor C.P. Thakur continues to be the same. He still goes to the zoo for morning walk.
The Leader of the Opposition, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, always complains about the RJD not getting the due publicity in the media. He also alleges that the present deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, occupied more space when he was the Leader of the Opposition during the Lalu-Rabri regime. Rabri Devi was the Leader of the Opposition during the first stint of Nitish. “How can the media write if the Leader of the Opposition (Rabri) does not speak,” a reporter countered Siddiqui, adding that the media was giving him the due coverage because he was speaking in the House. A senior journalist said: “Modi got better overage in the media because he used to be very thorough with his facts while speaking as the Leader of the Opposition and that earned him better coverage the way Siddiqui is earning.” Faced with the worst ever debacle in the Assembly elections, the Opposition parties — mainly the RJD and the Congress — are apparently clueless on how to carry on their battle against chief minister Nitish Kumar. With some senior leaders crossing over to the JD (U), they are even more demoralised. Recently, senior Congress leader Mahachander Singh joined the JD (U). Instead of working on the issues to fight against the government, both the parties are banking more on history. “Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress won over 400 Lok Sabha seats in the 1984 elections. Despite the massive mandate he lost the next election in 1989, paving the way for V.P. Singh. But the Congress came back with a bang in 1991,” said the Congrss’s media chairman Premchand Mishra. An RJD leader said: “A.B. Vajpayee himself lost the elections and the BJP could manage to win only two Lok Sabha seats in 1984. But Vajpayee went on to become the longest-serving non-Congress prime minister of India.” These leaders hope that history will play its tricks with Nitish too. Be it the senior party legislator Prem Kumar Mani or the former state JD (U) boss, the Dal dissidents are blaming the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, for the disciplinary action to be taken against them. “We are just facing the wrath of Nitish,” said Mani. Lallan Singh and Upendra Kushwaha, who are facing the axe, said: “Our plight is rooted in Nitish’s arrogance.” However, the chief minister said: “Na kahu se dosti, na kahu se bair (Neither do I have friendship with anyone nor do I have enmity).” He said the national party president, Sharad Yadav, and the state party boss, Basishtha Narayan Singh, had the power to take action against the leaders while reciting another adage. “Main to na teen mein hoon na terah mein (I don’t figure even remotely in connection with the action on the party leaders).” The dissidents described Nitish as a “smiling assassin”.
