French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in India to attend the Republic Day Parade tomorrow as its chief guest. He arrived in Jaipur this afternoon and will be joined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a tour of heritage sites and a roadshow. Macron’s visit caps the 25th-anniversary celebrations of the India-France Strategic Partnership.
The INDIA bloc appears to be unravelling as a third key leader – Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar – is likely to change camp. Sources said it is likely that Mr Kumar, in a last-minute U-turn, will partner the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Over the last two days, two key leaders – Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal– have ruled out any alliance with the Congress in Bengal and Punjab.
For Mr Kumar, 72, this would be the fifth change in camp. Since 2013, he has been swinging between the NDA and the mahagathbandhan, all the while keeping his job in the state intact. He switched sides last in 2022 – barely two years after he had walked out of the Grand Alliance and joined the NDA.
The signs have all been there over the last weeks, with Mr Kumar’s comments on dynastic politics and the subsequent retort from Lalu Yadav’s daughter expanding the rift. Yesterday, his lack of response to the Congress invite for Bharat Jodo Yatra, put a question mark on his appearance.
The Bharat Ratna for former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur appears to have been a turning point scripted in advance.
Sources said Mr Kumar has been upset over the lack of clarity in INDIA bloc’s poll preparations and being passed over as a possible Prime Ministerial candidate. The delays to seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha polls had been a further aggravation.
The young Opposition bloc INDIA is yet to enter the election amphitheatre, but is already out on a limb after the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal decided against fighting the Lok Sabha election together.
Today, it turned out, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has decided not to join Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay when the marching group enters Bihar on January 30, sources said.
With the decision to not walk with Mr Gandhi, the Bihar Chief Minister whose Janata Dal (United) or JD(U), which is an ally of Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the ruling Bihar government, has given a subtle message that all is not well within the INDIA bloc.
Mr Kumar was one of the architects of the INDIA bloc.
The INDIA bloc could be struggling with internal turmoil is also reinforced by allegations that Mr Kumar took a swipe at the RJD chief over “dynastic politics”, a charge that JD(U) leader KC Tyagi today refuted.
“Nitish Kumar was addressing a programme organised on the birth anniversary of Karpoori Thakur, whom he has idolised. Like all great socialists, Thakur abhorred dynastic succession in politics. This was the simple fact Nitish Kumar wanted to underscore. Nothing more should be read into it,” Mr Tyagi said.
“Nitish Kumar has no wish to condemn any regional party or leader,” Mr Tyagi said. “Those who think a dynasty is essential for the nation, are free to draw their own conclusion,” he added.
Mr Yadav today asked the Chief Minister to meet him in what was seen as an attempt to pacify the alliance partner, sources said.
Mr Yadav’s younger son Tejashwi Yadav had taken over as Deputy Chief Minister when Mr Kumar broke ties with the BJP in August 2022, and rejoined the Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan), whose members include the Congress and three Left parties.
In West Bengal, Ms Banerjee has already made it clear the Trinamool Congress will fight the election solo. Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien blamed Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as the reason behind the breakdown of alliance talks between the two parties. The Trinamool has alleged Mr Chowdhury is working for the BJP to sabotage the INDIA bloc.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab has also declined to share seats with the Congress in the northern border state. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the AAP is confident of winning all 13 seats in the state in the general election due in three months.