India
pti-Madhuri Adnal
Patna, February 15: Many eyebrows were raised in Bihar on Monday when news broke of a meeting between rising CPI star Kanhaiya Kumar and Ashok Choudhary, a minister and key assistant to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Kanhaiya, an energetic former student leader at JNU, who has lately been seen as veering towards Nitish Kumar even though his parties are rarely on the same page on most issues, met with Choudhary on Sunday.
Choudhary had headed the JD (U) state unit during assembly elections and recently played a pivotal role in gaining the support of the sole BSP MLA Zama Khan and independent lawmaker Sumit Singh, who were inducted into the cabinet last week.
He had also caused nervousness in the LJP, an ally turned adversary, by inviting his only MLA member, Raj Kumar Singh, to his residence for a book launch a few weeks ago. Choudhary’s meeting with Kanhaiya, a staunch communist, came at a time when the charismatic young politician is said to have been mortified by a motion of no confidence that the PCI recently passed against him.
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The party’s action came after the alleged mistreatment of a key CPI official attached to the state headquarters here. Previously, there had been tensions between the aspiring leader and his party during the Lok Sabha elections when the PCI reportedly insisted that he share a portion of the money he had raised through crowdfunding.
Kanhaiya had fought from his local Begusarai constituency, where he lost to Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh by a massive margin. Nonetheless, the contest created a stir and attracted many celebrities from far away to the dusty city in support of the young leader who has been slapped with a sedition case for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at JNU.
Sources close to Kanhaiya and Choudhary insisted that it was an “apolitical” meeting and that the two have known each other for a long time. However, it has provoked reactions from those who have strong opinions on nationalism and against the so-called “tukde tukde gang”. Subhash Singh, a minister of state for the BJP quota, called the former JNUSU president a “lunatic” (paagal) and said that his meeting with a high-ranking leader of an alliance partner “was not appropriate” (theek nahin hai).
Ajay Alok, a JD (U) spokesperson, reacted: “Kahaiya will be welcome in our party if she decides to renounce her evil ideology (vikrit). It is also understood that Kanhaiya has been disappointed with her party’s decision to side with the RJD “. who had set the tone for him in the Lok Sabha polls by presenting his candidate, and recognizing Tejashwi Yadav as the undisputed leader of the five-party Grand Alliance. Yadav, who for all practical purposes inherited the legacy of his father and RJD supreme Lalu Prasad is said to be suspicious of the former student leader who is the same age but exhibits superior oratory skills and subject understanding.
Some members of the ruling alliance said, on condition of anonymity, that the meeting could have been yet another attempt by the JD (U) to raise its value after its unsatisfactory performance in the assembly elections. A few hours after Kanhaiya’s meeting with Choudhary, Chandan Kumar Singh, an LJP MP, called Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
JD (U) spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad held onto the development to reprimand the LJP, saying that “Chirag Paswan has been alleging that his Jamui constituency has been neglected and that there has been no progress in Bihar. The meeting between the deputy of his party and the prime minister is a slight to his kind of politics. “
The LJP sought to downplay the significance of the meeting. “Our respected MP must have met with the chief minister regarding development works in his constituency. We wonder why there is to be so excited,” LJP spokesman Ashraf Ansari said in a video statement.
Paswan had withdrawn from the NDA before the assembly elections, promising to decimate the JD (U) and help the BJP seize power. He ran candidates against all JD (U) nominees, many of them rebels from the saffron party, a strategy that cost Nitish Kumar’s party dearly and reduced it to BJP junior partner status in the state for the first time.
She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.