Patna, Aug. 16: For a party that prides itself on its organisational prowess and abhorrence of the personality cult, it now banks on the charisma of one person: Nitish Kumar.

The Janata Dal (United) has undergone a major change in its structure, both at the national and at the state level, in nearly five years of its rule. Organisationally, the party that is gearing up for the upcoming polls is different to the one which came to power in Bihar, in alliance with the BJP, with Nitish at the helm on November 24, 2005.

George Fernandes, the then party boss who presided over the JD (U) to replace the Lalu-Rabri regime is history now. The then state party chief, Lallan Singh, has fallen out with the chief minister and is busy organising campaigns to end Nitish raj in the run-up to the polls.

“The man who represents the heart, soul and mind of the party has risen very high in stature in the eyes of voters in particular and opinion makers across the country in general,” said JD(U) national general secretary Shivanand Tiwary.

Tiwary himself is a new admirer — he was in the rival camp when the JD(U) came to power.

A regional and relatively fledgling party, the JD(U)’s prospects are more linked to the performance and accessibility of Nitish among the masses rather than its organisational strength. Nitish makes no bones about the party’s focus. “Our party’s health is very much linked to the health of the state’s masses. Liberated from chaos, anarchy and bad governance, they are at peace now which they would never like to lose. The people’s wish for peace has added to our party’s health.”

Instead of concentrating too much on the JD(U)’s organisational structure, Nitish has focussed more on governance. Better roads, an improved growth rate, better health facilities and improvement in urban and rural infrastructure are some the achievements the current regime boasts of.

The state has achieved a growth rate of 16.59 per cent, according to the latest Central Statistical Office report. It has built 23,606 km of new roads while repair work has been carried out along 1,657 km of national highways. The number of school dropouts has gone down from 25 lakh during the RJD regime to 7.7 lakh now and 1.5 lakh new schoolteachers have been appointed.

The engineer-chief minister has also carried out some deft political engineering. Nitish, referred to as “Chanakya” during his days with Lalu Prasad in the early 1990s, has moved swiftly to counter machinations by rivals to upset the caste calculations.

By giving 16 per cent quota to the extremely backward castes (EBCs) in panchayat and local bodies’ polls, Nitish is believed to have won over the EBCs, who constitute 35 per cent of the state’s voters and who once were an integral part of Lalu’s support base.
Lalu, because of his image as a staunch protagonist of the Mandal recommendations, was the master of the backward class vote bank. But with his subtle move, Nitish has broken the Mandal force by segregating the EBCs and giving largesse to them by way of reservation at panchayat and local bodies besides various freebies like social security pension to their old and infirm, free books, cycles and uniform to their children. In addition, he has carved out a new constituency for his party by reserving 50 per cent seats for women in local bodies.

Nitish has also reached out to Muslims by ensuring justice in 1989 Bhagalpur riots cases, special package to revive moribund silk weavers’ industry in Bhagalpur and accepting their long-pending demand to fence Muslim graveyards all across the state.
At the structural level too, he tried to compensate the loss of leaders who played big role in getting him to power. Nitish has replaced Lallan Singh, a Bhumihar, with a Bhumihar, Vijay Choudhary, as state party president and is at work to find a substitute for Prabhunath Singh, the Rajput shatrap, who has joined the RJD.