Air of uneasiness at oath-taking, CM doesn’t get up to greet his deputies

Air of uneasiness at oath-taking, CM doesn’t get up to greet his deputies

17.11.2020 TOI     

The ceremony was attended by home minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda and former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. Nitish, who insisted on leveraging his higher numbers in previous terms to secure bigger share of departments and the post of speaker, has seen BJP playing by the same playbook to demand bigger share in the government.

The saffron party has kept its commitment to make Nitish the CM despite BJP winning more seats, but has also been firm on getting a share which is commensurate with its new-found muscle. While BJP has 74 members, JD(U) is 30 short of them with current strength. In the previous government, JD(U), with 71 members, had 18 ministers other than Nitish as CM. BJP, with 52 legislators, had 13 ministers, including deputy CM Sushil Modi. While Prasad and Renu Devi are set to be designated as deputy CMs, the party has staked its claim for the post of Speaker, with Nand Kishore Yadav being seen as the likely choice. Name of Yadav, who has been part of every NDA government in Bihar since 2005, was conspicuously missing from the list of ministers who took oath.

With BJP flexing its muscle and demonstrating its intent to rework the terms of trade with JD(U) by dropping its biggest face in Bihar Sushil Modi as deputy CM because of his perceived proximity to Nitish, the ceremony had an air of uneasiness hanging on it. The audience at Raj Bhavan closely looked at the “body language” of the dramatis personae and many eyebrows were raised when Nitish did not get up to receive Prasad and Renu Devi when they greeted him with folded hands after having been appointed ministers.

BJP also tried to soften the buzz about Sushil Modi’s unhappiness. “Sushil Modi Ji is not at all upset. He is an asset to us. Party will think about him, a new responsibility will be given to him,” Fadnavis said. On Sushil Modi not returning as his deputy, Nitish said, “It is the decision of BJP to not field Sushil Modi as deputy CM. They should be asked about this.”

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Bihar deputy CMs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi during the oath-taking ceremony at Raj Bhawan in Patna, on Monday

As Cong bristles, RJD distances itself from ‘picnic’ remark

As Congress bristled over RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari’s remarks about Rahul Gandhi and why the Mahagathbandhan lost the Bihar polls, his party on Monday distanced itself from what it said were entirely his “personal views” and insisted all was well with the grand alliance, reports Sheezan Nezami. RJD’s national spokesperson Manoj Jha said Tiwari accusing Rahul of “picknicking” ahead of the polls and blaming Congress for the alliance falling short of the majority should not be construed as the party’s official statement. He said a proper analysis was required to pinpoint the reasons why the Mahagathbandhan lost.

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