The quiet return of BJP legislator Ramadhar Singh into the Bihar Cabinet as cooperative minister three months after he was forced to resign is being seen as chief minister Nitish Kumar’s care not to further upset the state’s upper castes.
Mr Singh, an influential BJP leader from the upper castes and MLA from Daudnagar in Aurangabad district, had to quit on May 19 after revelations that he had smugly remained a proclaimed absconder for 16 years in a case concerning his patently anti-Muslim public speech.
Mr Singh resignation came after Mr Nitish Kumar wanted him to leave following the Opposition RJD’s petition to the governor seeking his dismissal from the Cabinet.
But Mr Singh’s re-induction into the Cabinet on Saturday and the quiet stamp of approval it got from Mr Kumar and his JD(U) left political observers baffled because the JD(U), the bigger ally in Bihar’s coalition government, has moved remarkably closer to an absolute majority in the Assembly since last year’s polls. Recent developments have significantly reduced the JD(U)’s dependence on the BJP’s support.
“Despite the JD(U)’s proximity to absolute majority, Mr Kumar’s decision to reinstate a BJP minister accused of delivering a strong anti-Muslim speech in the communally sensitive days after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992 is a tactical step to mollify Bihar’s upper-caste voters,” said a political analyst.