Buzz over Nitish’s support to PM Modi: Is he eyeing 2019?

New Delhi/Patna: The sworn enemies have suddenly begun getting closer. That seemed to be the feeling within political circles with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar coming out in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial scheme for the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. A little earlier, Mr Kumar was the first among Opposition leaders to back Mr Modi’s “surgical strikes’ targeted at Pakistan. His support for the demonetisation drive has not merely rasied eyebrows but also created a rift within the ruling Grand Secular Alliance in Bihar.

Mr Kumar’s close aides, however, say that “there’s a method in Nitish Kumar’s madness”, despite any friction it may cause within the Bihar alliance. Mr Kumar, who appears to be nurturing prime ministerial ambitions, is said to be tacitly projecting himself as a possible face of a non-Congress, non-BJP front ahead of the 2019 general election.

Sources say that Mr Kumar felt the demonetisation issue not only has “huge public support” but was also a major signal against corruption. It was claimed that at this stage, Mr Kumar would not do anything which could possibly go against his clean image. It was this image that his close aides feel helped the JD(U) win the Bihar Assembly polls.

JD(U) spokesman and principal general secretaryK.C Tyagi has said that though the party is with the Opposition “on immediately bringing normality to banking services”, it also “fully supports the demonetisation move” He said party president Nitish Kumar had also said a “lot more needs to be done to check black money, specially bringing back black money from outside the country”.

Asked about the party’s earlier support to the BJP on the surgical strikes against Pakistan and whether the JD(U) was inching closer to the saffron camp, Mr Tyagi said: “There’s no question of going back with the BJP. But when the Modi government takes good steps, we should support it.”

At this juncture, the race seems to be between Mr Kumar and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to emerge as the Opposition’s face. Ms Banerjee has taken a more aggressive stand against the demonetisation move, and observers feel that if Mr Modi’s gamble goes wrong in the near future, Ms Banerjee could surge past Mr Kumar as the face of anti-BJP forces. If, however, the PM’s gamble pays off, Mr Modi will emerge virtually invincible, and Mr Kumar would appear as the “sane voice” in the ranks of the Opposition.

A senior JD(U) leader said the first acid test will be the coming Uttar Pradesh elections. While Ms Banerjee is busy trying to whip up anti-Modi sentiments by holding rallies in Lucknow and Varanasi, Mr Kumar is quietly working on the possibility of striking an alliance with the RLD and BSP in UP. RLD chief Ajit Singh, along with Mr Kumar, is working on what his father Charan Singh, a former Prime Minister, had called the “Ajgar” (python) formula, bringing together Ahirs, Jats, Gujjars and Rajputs.

Meanwhile, back home in Bihar, attempts by RJD boss Lalu Prasad Yadav to “remote control the administration” is leading to a rift between the two senior alliance partners, with the RJD also not too pleased with Mr Kumar’s bid to forge an alliance with other secular parties for the UP polls. Some RJD leaders even claimed that Mr Kumar’s national ambitions could “possibly have an adverse impact on the grand alliance” in Bihar