INDIA crumbling

A couple of weeks after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA camp, the new coalition government led by him won the trust vote in the Assembly on Monday. Making one of his trademark U-turns, the JD(U) chief had dumped the Mahagathbandhan — which includes the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress — late last month and joined hands with the BJP yet again. Lalu Yadav’s RJD suffered another jolt when three of its MLAs switched sides before the confidence vote. Both the Congress and the RJD are constituents of the Opposition bloc, INDIA, which finds itself in dire straits not only in Bihar but also in other parts of the country.

In Maharashtra, veteran Congress leader and former CM Ashok Chavan has joined the BJP. This is the second major loss in the state for the grand old party after the exit of former MP Milind Deora last month. Chavan is likely to be one of the BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidates from Maharashtra. Busy fighting its own demons, the Congress is helplessly watching INDIA lose ground in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The bloc, which was formed last year with the objective of offering the electorate a viable alternative to the NDA, is splintering with each passing day.

The Rashtriya Lok Dal has decided to cross over to the NDA, days after the Central Government bestowed the Bharat Ratna on party chief Jayant Chaudhary’s grandfather, former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh. Even as the BJP is making or breaking alliances with equal ease, the Congress has not managed to strike even a seat-sharing deal with the Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party in West Bengal and Punjab, respectively. AAP is unilaterally offering just one seat to the Congress in Delhi. If the Congress continues to let things drift, INDIA will stand no chance.  

#Bihar #Congress #Nitish Kumar