The move by the NDA to pick Droupadi Murmu, a tribal leader, as a presidential nominee has put Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in a tough spot. Droupadi Murmu, former Jharkhand Governor, has been announced as the NDA’s candidate for the presidential elections.
. The NDA’s move to field a tribal leader as presidential nominee has put Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a tight spot.
Speculations are rife that Nitish Kumar would not back the NDA’s presidential nominee as he had done in the last two presidential elections. This is because Nitish Kumar had supported presidential candidates from the opposition camp.
In 2012, when Nitish Kumar was running the government with the BJP in Bihar, he had supported UPA’s presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee, toeing a different line from the BJP. Even in 2017, when JD(U) was in alliance with the RJD, Nitish had then supported NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind.
NITISH IN A TOUGH SPOT
However, this time, it would be difficult for Nitish Kumar to oppose Droupadi Murmu, a woman candidate, and also because the latter comes from a tribal society. If he does this, he would be labelled as ‘anti-woman’ and ‘anti-tribal’, which he cannot afford.
Nitish could also lend his support to Droupadi Murmu due to the Jharkhand connection. Draupadi Murmu served as the governor of Jharkhand between 2016-2021 and has a clean image.
Recently, Nitish Kumar sent his party’s Jharkhand state president Khiru Mahto to the Rajya Sabha, making it difficult for Kumar to oppose Murmu.
CRACKS EMERGE WITHIN JD(U), BJP
Notably, the JD(U) and the BJP disagreed on the issue of the caste-based census in Bihar to such an extent that it was being speculated that Nitish might also break ties with the BJP. But, BJP went into damage control mode and supported the caste-based census in the state.
The new military recruitment scheme Agnipath launched by the Centre has become the new bone of contention between the two NDA allies. JD(U) had raised the demand to reconsider the scheme, which has sparked protests across the country.
The relations between the two parties have become so turbulent that when the widespread violence was witnessed in Bihar over the Agnipath scheme, protestors targeted many BJP leaders including, State President Sanjay Jaiswal and Deputy Chief Minister Renu Devi and also attacked their homes.
Hitting out at the Nitish government, Sanjay Jaiswal alleged that the protestors targeted BJP leaders and the police remained mute spectators
