From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Mysteriously, the top Congress leadership’s stoic silence even while all the opposition parties rallied behind the Mahagathbandhan formed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, ditching the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Congress neither publicly extended congratulations to Nitish nor did it call a meeting at the party headquarters here. This is intriguing since it were Nitish who had sounded Congress President Sonia Gandhi first about the winds of change in June when she was hospitalised due to Covid-19 infection. Nitish had opted to tip off Sonia as the first person to know about the development, though his phone call was as a courtesy to enquire about her health.
Sonia is said to have confided to a close confidant her conversation with Nitish that “Bihar is looking for a change and we need to get in touch with Lalu Prasad (RJD patriarch) as soon as possible to bridge the gap between Nitish and Laluji,” a source quoted her strategising.
He said Nitish had sought help from the Congress high command so that he does not succumb to the pressure of the BJP. Sonia asked him to get in touch with Rahul Gandhi and the task was given to Tejashwi (Lalu’s son) and Rahul to carry forward the conversation for politicl change in Bihar.
Once the foundation was readied by the probable principal alliance partners, Congress deputed its Bihar incharge Bhakta Charan Das to craft the job. The main focus was to gather such a large number tht it would be impossible the BJP to effect a split and topple the new regime.
Hence, the figure of 164 MLAs, comprising even the left parties. “Nitish Kumar established five phone calls directly to Sonia, including the recent two within 24 hours which is public now,” says a Congress leader privy to all the developments.
He said Nitish confided in Sonia that the BJP leaders like Home Minister Amit Shah, its president J P Nadda and state incharge Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan are visiting Patna to organise a split of his Janata Dal (U) party with the help of his once close confident, bureaucrat-turned politician RCP Singh. Nitish denied another Rajya Sabha term to Singh and dismissed him from the party before kicking out the BJP by resigning and then forming the new government with RJD and other parties.
