Patna:It's almost clear that Upendra Kushwaha is all set to replace RCP Singh as the new National President of JDU. With this move, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will be breaking the perception that he is not restricted to Kurmi and now he is going beyond that. Passing the baton to Kushwaha is a message to those people who accuse Nitish of not going beyond the Kurmi community. A narrative was set in Bihar after the induction of RCP Singh in the Union Cabinet that Nitish cannot go beyond Kurmi as he made the minister a leader who hails from the caste he belongs to.
Nitish would now break that perception and also consolidate the vote bank of the Kushwaha community which is roughly around 8 per cent in Bihar. There was a time when both Kushwaha and Nitish were considered the Luv-Kush of Bihar. Both OBC communities constitute around 10 per cent of the state's total population. Though RCP, the former bureaucrat, has been a trusted lieutenant of Nitish for years Kushwaha scores more than him because he brought leadership value as being the most prominent face of the Koeri community.
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Upendra Kushwaha is the symbolic leader of the Kushwaha caste and this particular caste was the base vote of JDU for years. However, the differences between Nitish and Upendra divided the Kushwaha voters and the impact was visible in the 2020 Assembly poll as well. Wherever Upendra has fielded his candidates in the Assembly poll, it gave a jolt to Nitish's candidates. Apart from LJP, even RLSP candidates badly affected Nitish on at least 10 Assembly seats.
Nitish is now making an attempt to mobilise his core vote by inducing Kushwaha on the post of national president of the party. On the basis of the core vote, the other vote banks like EBC add up making the party stronger. Nitish needs Kushwaha to re-consolidate his core vote. Till the time, RCP was there it has been assumed that JDU is primarily the party that only promotes Kurmi but today Kushwaha is the need for Nitish in the present scenario. The combination of Luv-Kush is a must for him.
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RCP has been loyal to Nitish Kumar since his days as a bureaucrat but his attempt to rejuvenate the party, as a political activist, did not work. However, experts believe that Upendra Kushwaha is a better political activist than RCP Singh. A clear indication of Kushwaha becoming JDU president was given on Sunday when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar praised the work of Kushwaha during the virtual meeting that took place with the new office-bearers of the party.
The statement of RCP made things more clear when he announced that he was ready to leave the post of JDU National President if the party decides to hand over the responsibility to a strong candidate. JDU which follows the principle of one man one post will take the final decision on 31st July during the national executive committee meeting called in New Delhi. The meeting would be attended by all the senior leaders of the party including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RCP Singh, Upendra Kushwaha, JDU state unit president Umesh Kushwaha and other leaders of JDU.
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Ever Since RCP has been inducted in the Union Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the debate has started in Bihar that he would not be allowed to hold two important posts. The only strong candidate JDU has is Upendra Kushwaha who is currently the chairman of the JDU Parliamentary Board Committee. Even the Patna based political expert Dr Sanjay Kumar echoed the same and stressed that Nitish is eyeing to consolidate the Kushwaha vote bank with this move.
“By giving the top post to Upendra Kushwaha, Nitish wants to consolidate the Kushwaha vote bank once again. Umesh Kushwaha is already state president and by making another person from the Kushwaha community, it is a clear indication that Nitish does not want to miss the opportunity to grab this vote bank. People were accusing him that he was not able to come out from Nalanda and Kurmi. Another thing Nitish wants to do is to downsize the stature of RCP by putting Kushwaha above him," Dr Sanjay asserted.
He further said, “Nitish must have given thought to make Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh as JDU National President but the caste he belongs to is not going to support Nitish because that community already supports BJP. Nitish also knows very well that RCP has gone out of his control. So he is now promoting Kushwaha. I must say that once Kushwaha will become strong, Nitish will downsize him as well by promoting another leader in the party. That is how Nitish plays his cards in politics by not allowing anyone to go ahead of him.”
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