Why Nitish Kumar Said ‘Chuck De INDIA’: Mamata’s PM Face Was Kharge, Rahul Vetoed Nitish as Convener

Two “disturbing developments", one on December 19 and another on January 13, sowed the seeds of mistrust in Nitish Kumar’s mind towards the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliance and ultimately led him to walk out.

It is no secret that Kumar had national ambitions and brought together the INDIA alliance with an idea to be its face or convener, although he himself always denied having such aspirations. The talk of making him INDIA convener was making the rounds for at least two months now. However, on December 19, Kumar was in for a rude shock.

As senior JDU leader KC Tyagi now alleges, during the September 1 meeting of the INDIA bloc in Mumbai, it was decided that the alliance will go into the elections with no PM face. “But during a meeting on December 19, Mamata Banerjee proposed the name of Mallikarjun Kharge as the PM face. This was part of a well-thought out conspiracy by the Congress with Banerjee proposing the name and Arvind Kejriwal seconding it," Tyagi alleged on Sunday.

Kharge rejected the proposal, but the first seeds of mistrust were sown in Kumar’s mind. “Kumar has been the CM eight times, while Kharge lost his own Lok Sabha election…there is simply no comparison between their political stature," a JDU leader said.

SECOND SHOCKER

Subsequently, as JDU leaders, including Tyagi, kept saying that Kumar’s name will be announced as the INDIA convener in a matter of a few days, the announcement never came. Finally, on December 13, when the INDIA bloc met in a virtual meeting, Sonia Gandhi said it was fine to make Kumar the convener.

However, Kumar got a rude shock when Rahul Gandhi, in his speech soon after, said a consensus should be built over Kumar’s name as the convener as Banerjee needs to be brought on-board. Rahul said he would ask Kejriwal to do that job. This is said to have irritated Kumar who saw Rahul Gandhi even overruling his mother’s decision regarding his post.

Kumar quickly rejected any suggestion to become the convener and even suggested the name of Lalu Prasad Yadav for the same. “It seems that Rahul Gandhi, Banerjee and Kejriwal have been acting in concert to downsize Kumar in the INDIA alliance. This, despite the fact, that Kumar is the architect of the alliance who brought Banerjee and Kejriwal on the same table as the Congress," a JDU leader added.

The lack of quick seat-sharing deals and the Congress trying to play ‘big brother’ only escalated Kumar’s unease. “We tried to stitch the INDIA alliance, but no work was happening there," Kumar said on Sunday.

He has walked back to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) camp after 17 months.