A meeting of NDA legislators on Sunday chose JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar for yet another term as Bihar's chief minister, with the swearing-in ceremony set to take place today. What lies in balance is the future of Sushil Kumar Modi, Nitish's close confidante in the BJP and the deputy CM in his previous tenure.
It is almost certain that Sushil Modi will be dropped from the post, a move which many see as a precursor to the BJP's ambitious plans of aggressively expanding its own base in Bihar, where it has played second fiddle to the JD(U) so far. The JD(U) had suffered a massive decline in the recent elections. The NDA had come to power on the back of a scintillating performance by the BJP, and there were all indications that the saffron party would seek to solidify its position in Bihar as a force to be reckoned with.
In the running are two names for the deputy CM post: MLAs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi, who were respectively elected as the leader and deputy leader of the BJP legislature party.
Sushil Modi's cryptic tweets
Sushil Modi dropped his deputy chief minister title from his Twitter profile. He also congratulated Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi, and came out with tweets about his own future in the BJP. "Few might have got from the BJP and the RSS as much as I did in my 40 years of political career. I will fulfill whatever responsibility that comes my way in future. Nobody can, after, all, snatch away from me the post of a party worker", Modi said in the tweet.
Union minister Giriraj Singh, considered one of the detractors of Nitish Kumar in the BJP and not known to be on the best of terms with Sushil Kumar Modi, came out with an acidic response. "Respected Sushil Kumar Modi ji, you are a leader, you held the office of deputy CM and will remain a BJP leader. One does not become great or small because of a post", Singh tweeted.
Echoing similar sentiments, BJP MP from Jharkhand Nishikant Dubey tweeted that "the party is the mother for its workers". "It makes a person like you and me a leader by bypassing crores of people. Your thoughts give direction to workers like me," he said, reacting to Sushil Modi's tweet.
Who are the names being mentioned currently?
Tarkishore Prasad hails from the Kalwar caste, which is a part of the Vaishya community that comes under the backward class category. The 52-year-old BJP leader had risen from the ranks of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an affiliate of the RSS. Prasad has been winning the Katihar constituency since October 2005. He has shown agriculture as his profession in the affidavit submitted during the recently-held elections.
Renu Devi is from the Noniya caste, which is an extremely backward class community. She has been elected four times from Bettiah and was a minister during Nitish Kumar's second term as chief minister.
