The BJP MLAs and workers hitting the streets during Bharat Bandh did not appear to be missing the party's poster boy Sushil Kumar Modi, who is abroad. Modiji is a big leader and does not interact with party workers. He is such a big leader that he can organise a Bharat bandh on his own,” said a party worker sarcastically while enforcing shutdown at Patna Junction at the behest of MLA Nitin Navin. Several BJP leaders pointed out that Nitin’s followers had a reason to be cut up with Modi. Nitin’s father, late Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha, had won in the 2005 Assembly polls by a margin of over 80,000 votes but was not included in the ministry. Sinha had blamed Modi for his non-inclusion in the ministry. “Well, the dislike for Modi is not confined to just one party worker or a family,” said another BJP leader. The Biharis’ grudge against the UPA II regime over the absence of a single Union minister from the state could be finally over with the inclusion of NCP leader Tariq Anwar in the cabinet shortly. NCP chief Sharad Pawar has proposed his name for inclusion in the Union ministry. Anwar originally hails from Arwal district of Bihar and was elected thrice from the Katihar parliamentary seat. At present, he is a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra. “Tariq Sahib will fill up the vacancy as a Bihari even if he represents Maharashtra. In fact, I have heard that another Bihari, Shaqeel Ahmad of the Congress, is being tipped to be a Union minister. But the inclusion of both these Biharis in the ministry appears to have got stuck because of the sudden withdrawal of support to the UPA by Trinamul Congress. Their inclusion appears inauspicious,” said a JD(U) MP. The age factor prevented several senior NDA leaders, including Dr C.P. Thakur, Basistha Narayan Singh and Shivanand Tiwari, from actively enforcing the shutdown. The trio preferred to stand under the shade of a betel kiosk near the Dakbungalow roundabout instead of squatting on a dharna. They asked policemen to bring vans fast so that they could court arrest and go home. “These leaders surfaced at the centre stage a few minutes before the vans came, delivered their speech and went sat inside the police van. Perhaps, both the BJP and the JD(U) need younger leaders,” said a young JD(U) worker. The RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, has still not given up the hope of becoming Prime Minister. When he recently said he remained a prime ministerial candidate like chief minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) leaders were amused. “Nitishji has never said in public that he wants to be the Prime Minister. But Laluji expressed his wish to be a Prime Minister when he was politically powerful. Even now, when his political fortunes have dipped, he wants to be so. There is nothing wrong in becoming an evergreen Prime Minister-in-waiting,” said a JD(U) MP. The RJD leaders said though Nitish never expressed his wish to be a Prime Minister himself, his supporters project him as the Prime Minister-in-waiting whenever there is an opportunity. “Nitishji is also an evergreen candidate,” said an RJD leader.
Monday, 09 February 2026
