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| English: Flag of Janata Dal (United) of India (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I think of
Nitish Kumar as a
Prime Minister in waiting, because he has been the top performing
Chief Minister in India. I talked yesterday in terms of a
JD(U),
RJD,
Congress alliance. But even that might not be necessary. Nitish could go solo and do well. He could earn a 60+% majority in the
Bihar assembly next year.
The PM chair might have been taken by Modi. But the country does not have a clear Opposition Leader. There is only one person who can fill that void. And that person is Nitish. I am aware he is not a MP. He does not need to be. He can be Chief Minister and the top Opposition Leader at the same time.
The people of Bihar love him so much they snuffed out all possibilities of him moving from
Patna to Delhi. That is why they gave him only two seats. They don't want to lose him. The people of Bihar have given him a clear mandate to continue in Patna, and he should respect that mandate, the
janadesh.
He has a comfortable majority in the Bihar assembly right now. His party will get a 60+% majority on its own next year. In 2018 his party will get 20+
MPs. In 2019 his strength in the Bihar assembly will only get better. Then in 2022 the people of Bihar will give him 40 MPs so he can lay a claim to the throne in Delhi.
Until then he gets to act the Opposition Leader to Modi in Delhi. Modi has been good for business, and that is also important, but the same Modi has been rather weak on the human development index, and there Nitish is strong.
