"Kalidas": Nitish Kumar's Party Hits Back After Chirag Paswan's Covid Taunt

The simmering feud between Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United and Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janashakti Party flared up today with a proxy war between Lalan Singh and Chirag Paswan. The young LJP leader's tweet, commenting on the low rate of coronavirus testing in the state, set off a sharp reaction from Mr Singh.

"The Lok Janshakti Party has been demanding that there is a need to increase corona testing in Bihar. Now after the Prime Minister intervened and gave suggestions, there is not only hope but confidence that the Bihar government will increase the testing so that Bihar can be protected from Corona," a rough translation his tweet in Hindi read.

"There was a Kalidas, who used to cut the same branch of the Tree where he used to sit," Lalan Singh responded with a statement to the press in Patna. Party sources said that the remark was made with the blessings of the Chief Minster, who is losing patience with the young leader.

The reference to Kalidas -- the legendary Sanskrit poet said to be a scatterbrain before he received the blessing of the gods -- was seen as a reminder that the LJP, whose core supporters are the state's six per cent Dalit community, is dependent on the JD(U) to remain in power.

In the last assembly elections held in 2015, the LJP contested 45 of the state's 243 seats, but won only two. For the next state elections due in around four months, the LJP it has asked for 41 seats.

But in view of a possible rejection by the JD(U), Chirag Paswan, who was handed the party's leadership by his father Ram Vilas Paswan last year, has been leaving hints that his party might not contest the coming election as part of the NDA.

Last month, LJP leader Raghvendra Bharati, president of the party's Munger unit, was sacked for saying the NDA was "intact" -- which was seen as a record of sorts. The LJP said it was the prerogative of party president Chirag Paswan to take a "final call" on the matter.

Chirag Paswan, who quit a career in films to join politics, has made his ambition clear. At a party meeting on June 25, he had said, "We are allies of the BJP and not the JD(U). I want to be the Chief Minister someday".

Over the last months, he has been vocal with his criticism of the Chief Minister and called out the government not only over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic but also several other issues, including the collapse of a road during the recent floods.

Last month, he sided with the opposition to allege that there was no initiative on part of the Chief Minister to investigate the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, a "promising young man" from the state.

"My Chief Minister needs to be more active. I don't understand. If I can have a word with the Maharashtra Chief Minister, why can't my Chief Minister speak with him and ask him for CBI probe?" he said after dialing Uddhav Thackeray.

He had also joined the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal in expressing concerns over holding the assembly polls amid the coronavirus outbreak.

That Nitish Kumar is upset became clear with the statement of party spokesman KC Tyagi. "Our alliance is with BJP and Lok Janshakti Party is in alliance with BJP," he recently said, distancing his party from the alliance partner.

Sources close to Nitish Kumar said he feels that the moment Ramvilas Paswan becomes a parliamentarian, he tries to play the role of spoiler on assembly elections for his allies, irrespective of who they are. Mr Paswan has done this with Nitish Kumar in 2000, with Lalu Yadav in 2005 and with the BJP in 2015, they said.