Note ban threatens to rip apart Bihar alliance

PATNA: RJD and JD(U), which till recently sang the same tune on almost every issue, be it the liquor ban in Bihar or formation of an anti-BJP alliance at the national level, have of late come out with divergent views on important issues, fuelling reports of tension between the two grand alliance partners.

The issues on which Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Lalu Prasad's RJD are at loggerheads include scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes by PM Narendra Modi, an opposition alliance for the UP elections, and the PM face for an anti-BJP alliance for 2019.

Congress, which app eared to be with JD(U) on all issues except the candidate for PM in 2019, jolted the alliance when Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee chief and state education minister Ashok Choudhary told reporters on Wednesday: "We will not hesitate in moving out of the alliance on the issue of demonetisation the moment the high command says so." On Thursday, Choudhary, however, played down the threat of walking out of the grand alliance. "We (grand alliance partners) are united on issues of public interest and his statement was misinterpreted and distorted," he said.

A section of legislators and organisation functionaries admit in private that Nitish and Lalu are not as comfortable with each other as they were a couple of months ago. Sources said the differences would become an open secret by the time Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls.

"Nitish wants to retain the image of a neta of commitments. He is trying to project his party at the national level and himself as one of the contenders for the post of PM in 2019. Lalu Prasad, on the other hand, is out to score a point or two by opposing the BJP and PM Modi to project himself as the one who can take on Modi. Naturally, the relationship soured when Nitish started making efforts to increase his party's say at the national level by propagating the liquor ban," said a JD(U) legislator.

An RJD functionary and Lalu aide for over three decades also admitted Nitish's national ambition was the bone of contention.

JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar reiterated that his party, unlike the RJD, favoured demonetisation. "But that does not mean a fissure in the alliance. As JD(U) national president, Nitish will work to increase the party's footprint, and we don't think there is anything wrong in that," he said on Wednesday.

RJD spokesman Chitranjan Gagan also downplayed reports of tension between the two parties.