On Thursday, the Shiv Sena said that Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, had sparked a storm by cutting connections with the BJP and that this storm, if it intensified into a cyclone, may provide a threat to the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In an editorial in the Sena organ “Saamana,” Mr. Kumar was praised for turning the tables on the BJP by breaking relations with it when it attempted to split his party, the Janata Dal (United).
Eknath Shinde, the chief minister of Maharashtra who rebelled against the Sena leadership in June, was also singled out by the Marathi newspaper, which said he “bent the knee” before Delhi.
The editorial said that Mr. Shinde should comprehend that Mr. Kumar shown his ability to live without it.
READ MORE: We Changed Parties, But Not Like Nitish Kumar: Himanta Sarma
The Sena said that the divisions between Mr. Kumar and Lalu Yadav, the founder of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), must stop.
It also complimented Tejashwi Yadav, the head of the RJD’s Assembly election campaign in 2020, calling him a “young and popular” Bihari politician who had put up a fight against the BJP-JD(U) coalition at the time.
In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the RJD and JD(U) were both parties that ran rival campaigns. Over the last forty years, the relationship between Mr. Kumar and Lalu Prasad has had many ups and downs.
To work with the RJD, Nitish Kumar left the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Tuesday.
According to a Sena editorial, the BJP supported former Union minister RCP Singh to undermine the JD(U). Once Mr. Kumar became aware of this, he cut ties with the BJP.
“Nitish Kumar has sparked a storm. It might threaten the BJP if it strengthens into a cyclone, “the Marathi newspaper said.
It claimed that political upheavals in Bihar, the home of socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan, had an impact on the whole nation and that the state’s recent political realignment may impact the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The fourth-highest number of MPs after West Bengal (48), Maharashtra (48), and Uttar Pradesh (80) are sent by Bihar to the Lok Sabha (42). PR GK GK PTI
