The Opposition has picked former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, daughter of late Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram, as its candidate for the presidential election scheduled in July. Kumar will take on the NDA's Ram Nath Kovind, who looks favourite to win the contest.
But more than Kovind or his backers – the shrewd politicians in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah who stunned everybody, including the BJP's allies, by picking a Dalit face for the presidential election, the Opposition's move looks to be more aimed at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Kumar, who is playing the game of making his own exclusive place in Modi's India and has been backing the latter, whom he strongly disliked in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election, on many issues, left the Opposition down by supporting Kovind. What was even more disappointing for the Opposition is that Kumar himself had asked Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to field a consensus candidate but then took an unexpected turn. So, they went for Meira Kumar, a daughter of Bihar, to embarrass Kumar as the Bihar chief minister has always promoted the Bihari Asmita and now it might seem that he could make the womenfolk of his state upset by not backing Meira Kumar.
But Kumar's concern is not the presidential election but his own elevation in national politics. Fed up with his tie-up with Lalu Prasad's RJD, the JD(U) chief is in the middle of undoing the story he has scripted since 2013. He has realised that the communal-secular debate around Modi is no more the focal point in Indian politics. It is rather the track record in administration which makes leaders popular on a national platform nowadays and with a bunch of BJP chief ministers emerging, it is extremely important for Kumar to maintain his image as a good administrator. An alliance with the tainted Prasad is not making things comfortable for him.
Prasad has taken a dig at Kumar saying the latter's not backing Meira Kumar is a "historic blunder" but for Nitish Kumar, the chances of making historic gains are far more if he inches closer to the Modi camp and not a hapless Opposition which is mostly clueless about what it is doing.
Speaking about the Opposition's tactic, zeroing in on Nitish Kumar's 'betrayal' has diluted the anti-Modi focus, helping the BJP more. This moment wouldn't have come had the Opposition acted fast to give Nitish Kumar's proposal of a consensus candidate a reality. It went on wasting time, leaving the JD(U) leader frustrated. Being a man in power, Nitish Kumar has a much bigger urgency in doing things than Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or Sitaram Yechury, who are virtually jobless in the Modi era. So, it was logical the way Kumar acted. There is no time to waste in the fiercely competitive realm called politics.
