Who is ensuring the defeat of Meira Kumar, the 'daughter of Bihar' in the upcoming presidential election? That is the issue which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Congress party are embroiled in even as the former Lok Sabha speaker is busy preparing herself to file nomination on Wednesday for the polls slated for July 17.
Nitish, who announced his support to the NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind immediately after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah announced his name, believes that it is the Congress-led opposition parties that are ensuring the defeat of Meira Kumar by fielding her, despite knowing that the numbers are stacked in favour of the NDA candidate.
"Why did you all field her? If she had to be the candidate, why did you not announce her name ahead of the BJP?," Nitish reportedly asked Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. This indicates that the chief minister is not inclined to rethink even though his prohibition policy and 'educate the girl child' policy are said to have made lots of women votes in favour of his JD(U) during the assembly elections.
The Congress believes that with rushing to support the NDA candidate and not acceding to its request that he wait till the opposition meeting before making public his stand, Nitish made Kumar a loser from the very start. The party, however, is still hopeful that the country's first woman Lok Sabha speaker will manage to put up a good show in the polls.
Lalu Prasad had called Nitish's failure to support Bihar ki beti a historic blunder. According to sources in Patna, Lalu feels that Nitish is playing 'Bihar politics' in presidential election. A section of the RJD leaders is of the opinion that the JD(U) wants to split the Mahagathbandan—the grand alliance—ahead of Lok Sabha elections in 2019, and join hands with its old partner, the BJP.
The 17 opposition parties, who named Kumar as their candidate, are expected to put up a show of strength when she files her nominations.
