Bihar chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar has set out on the ultimate leg of the Samriddhi Yatra in what appears to be a bid to introduce his son and inheritor, Nishant Kumar, to the citizens.
As he begins his political journey, Nishant Kumar faces the enviable process of defending his father’s political capital at the same time as he seeks to construct his personal. (Santosh Kumar/HT Picture)
The JD(U) appears to consider that the one glue that may maintain collectively the social gathering is Kumar, who has run the state for a lot of the previous twenty years. His enchantment is primarily his file in workplace — the declare to have restored the rule of legislation and coverage initiatives that helped win the belief of ladies voters — and the social gathering now desires to ship out the message that the son could be trusted together with his father’s legacy of unpolluted politics. That is problematic — whereas political dynasties are dime a dozen, and span events, not all have been profitable in electoral politics.
The JD(U)’s predicament is that it did not develop past Kumar’s persona regardless of holding workplace in Patna for 1 / 4 century. Kumar is partly in charge — hyper-sensitive to potential competitors, he didn’t encourage a second-run management. Nor did he construct a grassroots organisation. The social gathering’s social justice inheritance has been diminished to good electoral arithmetic, centered on the extraordinarily backward castes and the non-Yadav OBCs. This social coalition was stitched round patronage and the political persona of Kumar. During the last two elections, the JD(U)’s associate, the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) has grow to be the political pole in Bihar, and the communities that after backed Kumar may shift their loyalty to it. In workplace — it’s believed that the subsequent CM will likely be from the BJP — the social gathering may additionally make a declare to the event narrative owned solely by Kumar till now. As he begins his political journey, Nishant Kumar faces the enviable process of defending his father’s political capital at the same time as he seeks to construct his personal.
