Tremors were noticed in political circles in Bihar on Monday after the news broke of Communist leader Kanhaiya Kumar meeting Ashok Chaudhary, senior JDU leader and key political aide of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Kanhaiya is reportedly unhappy with his party, Communist Party of India.
In its just-concluded national council meeting in Hyderabad, CPI had passed a censure motion against Kanhaiya. The motion was taken up as a result of Kanhaiya’s supporters roughing up the Patna office secretary of CPI Indu Bhushan.
He was miffed with the censure motion against him.
Kanhaiya was also not happy with his party’s decision of siding with Lalu Yadav’s party RJD in the last assembly elections of Bihar which were held in October-November last year.
The RJD had fielded a candidate against Kanhaiya in 2019 Lok Sabha elections when he was contesting from Begusarai. Kanhaiya believed it was an important reason for his defeat against BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh.
The meeting has also raised eyebrows because, after similar meetings of Chaudhary with lone BSP MLA Zama Khan and independent MLA Sumit Singh, both were inducted into the cabinet of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The rising star of the Communist Party had many other frictions also with the party leadership. Kanhaiya has raised a substantial amount through crowd-funding for his elections. The party leadership had asked him to share the money with a party which he refused.
Kanhaiya has been rabidly attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But, he has maintained calculated silence against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The main opposition party of Bihar, Lalu’s RJD, has been continuously attacking the JDU. It is believed Kanhaiya moving to Nitish’s camp will help his party in countering the RJD.
Lalu Yadav’s younger son, Tejashvi Yadav, who for all practical purposes is the defacto chief of the party, is a fierce political opponent of Kanhaiya.
