Apparently alarmed by BJP patriarch L.K. Advani’s anti-corruption rath yatra slated to start from Bihar next month, JD(U) stalwart and chief minister Nitish Kumar is all set to begin a tour of Bihar in November. This multi-phase yatra is expected to be a strategic multipurpose vehicle for both Mr Kumar and the JD(U).
The timing, naming and enlarged scope of Kumar’s yatra, his sixth in his six years as CM, have led to speculations in Bihar’s political circles about the ruling JD(U)’s growing national ambitions with regard to ally BJP’s recent posturing as inferred from Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s sadbhavna mission’ fast.
Mr Kumar’s yatra decision emerged a day after Modi’s three-day fast ended in Ahmedabad and the day it became clearer that Mr Advani’s anti-corruption yatra might start from Bihar. According to JD(U) sources, Mr Kumar’s proposed yatra was christened “Seva Yatra” (Service Tour) to present an unavoidable contrast to the sadbhavna mission’. Unlike Mr Modi’s three-day event at a single site in Gujarat, Mr Kumar’s mission will be across Bihar in several phases up to March 2012, with the JD(U) stalwart likely to spend as many as three days in each of Bihar’s 38 ditricts.
The two primary political objectives behind Mr Kumar’s latest yatra are said to be ensuring that the JD(U)’s support base in Bihar stays unharmed by the effects of Mr Advani’s yatra, which is likely to be graced by the BJP’s prominent national leaders, and presenting Kumar as a better choice for NDA’s next PM candidate than his Gujarat counterpart, said analysts. Like in his previous five Bihar yatras — four of them after he became CM in November 2005 — Mr Kumar is expected to use the Seva Yatra to gather the people’s feedback on the several welfare and anti-corruption initiatives taken up by the JD(U)-BJP coalition government.
But, according to JD(U) sources, the primary motive of this long tour would be to produce “positive political results”.