Two days after Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Bihar chief minister for the seventh time, Shiv Sena on Wednesday questioned how long will Nitish Kumar ‘endure’ the favour done by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and claimed that he was chief minister of Bihar only for namesake.
An editorial in Saamana, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece, said that the majority of the Janata Dal (United) and the BJP alliance in Bihar is slim, while the majority of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi is much stronger and there is no threat of it collapsing.
The editorial said that Nitish Kumar said that he did not wish to become the chief minister but he accepted it on BJP’s insistence. “It is proven that Prime Minister Modi has a special love for Bihar as Fadnavis says. Shiv Sena was not given the CM‘s post in Maharashtra because BJP had more seats, (but) they conferred the CM’s crown on a party that slipped to the third spot (in the Bihar election). What generosity! It will be difficult to record this renunciation in politics but how long will Nitish Kumar endure this favour?” it asked.
It further added that Nitish was Bihar’s CM only for namesake. “They [BJP] kept their word and made Nitish Kumar the chief minister, which is ok, but the question is if this is a permanent measure… Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister for namesake and he will be forced to resign after humiliation over a period of time,” it said, adding that BJP has made two deputy chief ministers to increase the trouble for Nitish Kumar.
Slamming the BJP leaders, the editorial said that it is laughable to hear them say that the Bihar government will last its full term when they have only three legislators more than the half-way mark required.
“Maharashtra government has the majority and legislators. Therefore to say that the Maharashtra government will collapse is like breaking head on a stone wall,” it said.
