Cabinet expansion in Bihar: Nitish Kumar manages to block entry of two detractors

Still smarting from the embarrassing performance of his party in the Bihar assembly elections last year, CM Nitish Kumar appears to have at least partially salvaged his position by successfully blocking the entry of former party colleague and his namesake Nitish Mishra.

Besides Mishra, Sanjay Paswan, a former Union minister and a prominent Dalit face of the BJP, too did not get the warrant of appointment from Raj Bhawan, apparently on account of the CM’s strong reservations on his induction.

However, Nitish could not stop Samrat Chaudhary from becoming a minister from the BJP quota.

Nitish Mishra, at one point of time, was regarded as Nitish Kumar’s blue eyed boy and he worked as Rural Development Minister. But Mishra deserted Nitish when he needed Mishra the most. Nitish Mishra, son of former CM Jagannath Mishra, had deserted Nitish to side with Jitan Ram Manjhi in 2015.

In another political somersault, Nitish Mishra landed in the BJP court.

Sanjay Paswan, the other ministerial hopeful from the BJP quota too could not make it to the final list, again on account of stiff opposition from Nitish Kumar. Ahead of the assembly election 2020, Sanjay Paswan hit the headlines by demanding Nitish’s replacement as NDA leader by someone from the BJP. Paswan also publicly criticised Nitish’s handling of the Home portfolio.

The cabinet expansion on Monday came after a nearly three month long stalemate on account of perceived differences between the alliance partners.

Post 2017, the trust deficit between the BJP and JD(U) has been all too obvious. What the BJP did to JD(U) in Arunachal Pradesh is only too fresh in the political memory. Before that, during the Jharkhand assembly elections, Nitish left no one in doubt that BJP rebel Saryu Rai continued to be his favourite.

In the Vajpayee era, poaching within the alliance was forbidden and as such what happened in Arunachal was almost unthinkable. But in the ‘new India’, such things seem to be a ‘new normal’. Sleeping with the friend’s partner is the new political norm now.

Incidentally, by inducting BJP leader Sanjay Jha in the JD(U), Nitish Kumar also violated the coalition code.

In another new, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, the youngest ever Cabinet rank Union minister of the country, has been made a minister in Bihar. Hussain is perhaps the only politician of the country to suffer such a demotion. To Nitish’s psychological comfort, he will be having a former member of the Union Cabinet working under his leadership. As per the order of precedence (protocol), Cabinet ministers of the Central govt are ahead of any state’s CM.

The induction of Zaman Khan is also being seen as the extension of the psychological war between the alliance partners. Before the arrival of Syed Shah Nawaz Hussain on the scene, it was expected that Bihar will have only one Muslim minister and that too from the JD(U) quota.

To be fair to Nitish, despite being in alliance with BJP, the CM has not taken any policy decision that may have directly hit the Muslims. Rather, even at the risk of souring relations with the alliance partner, he has mostly walked the talk on inclusive politics and the Bihar assembly resolution during the nationwide anti-CAA agitation was not appreciated by the BJP leadership.

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