Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal United (JDU) in Bihar are apprehensive of cross-voting during the Presidential election on 17 July, especially as the provisions of the anti-defection law are not applicable to this particular election. Their apprehension is based on the campaign launched by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad asking members of the electoral college, especially those belonging to the Dalit and Yadav communities, to support “Bihar ki Beti” Meira Kumar, rather than Ram Nath Kovind, who has been portrayed as an “outsider”.
Nitish Kumar has given party secretary general and bureaucrat-turned-politician R.C.P. Sinha the responsibility of ensuring that JDU MPs and MLAs from Bihar do not indulge in cross-voting, as Lalu Prasad and Meira Kumar both have appealed to them to vote “on the call” of their “conscience”.
The “intelligence network” around the party’s MLAs has been further strengthened to keep them “away from Lalu’s influence”. A section of JDU MLAs has been approached even by BJP leaders to vote for Kovind.
Former Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who came back from New Delhi after attending the filing of nomination by Kovind, too, expressed his apprehension about cross-voting. The BJP state leadership has directed its MLAs and MPs from the state to remain united in support of Kovind. Two NDA partners, LJP and RLSP, have also been asked by senior BJP leaders to keep a watch on the activities of their party members.
The meeting of the state executive of the JDU has been convened on 2 July and the national executive of the party will be held on 9 July in Delhi. To express their support for Kovind, all leaders of the BJP, LJP, and RLSP will attend the campaign meeting called by Kovind next week at Patna. Kovind will start his campaign from Lucknow from Sunday.
“If someone like Sushil Kumar Shinde was made the candidate, we would not have been so worried. However, Meira Kumar is someone who has been very closely associated with Bihar and knows many of our leaders at a personal level. The prospect of cross-voting by our MLAs and by the JDU MLAs is there, especially by the Dalit MLAs and MPs,” a BJP leader said.
The provisions of the anti-defection law are not applicable to the Presidential election and members are free to vote for a candidate of their choosing through secret ballot, as they are not bound by any party whips.
In the last presidential election, BJP’s MLAs had cross-voted in favour of UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee rather than supporting their own nominee P.A. Sangma.
The bitterness between Lalu Prasad and JDU chief and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the issue came to the forefront when the latter dismissed Lalu’s claim that Meira Kumar should be elected because she was a “better Dalit and daughter of Bihar”. Nitish Kumar told journalists at the gate of 10 Circular Road (residence of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi) after attending an Iftar party on Friday: “If they were really concerned about ‘Bihar ki Beti’, they could have got her elected as the President during the UPA time when both the RJD and Congress were in power at the Centre. She has been fielded to ensure that she is defeated,” he said.
Nitish Kumar also made fun of Lalu Prasad’s charge that “Nitish has committed a historic blunder” by supporting Ram Nath Kovind because he was the Governor of Bihar and said: “Let Laluji speak. Yes, I have committed a historic blunder, but my candidate will win.”
During the Iftar, though they sat next to each other, but did not exchange a word and tried to avoid eye contact.
Unlike in the past, Lalu Prasad did not greet Nitish Kumar nor did he embrace him. Nitish Kumar was received by RJD MP Jaiprakash Yadav, who escorted him to the hall where the Iftar was being held. Earlier, Lalu Prasad would personally come out to greet him. Nitish Kumar did not talk to either Rabri Devi or her two sons who are his Cabinet colleagues nor was greeted by Misa Bharti, RJD MP and her daughter.
Earlier in the day, Lalu Prasad’s deputy Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who is RJD vice-president, had used strong words against Nitish Kumar, alleging that there was some “deal” between Kumar and the BJP for supporting Kovind. He alleged that Nitish Kumar had declared that he wanted to free India of the RSS, but was supporting an RSS man, Kovind, in the elections. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh even called Nitish Kumar “Jaichand and Man Singh”, traitors in the Rajputana wars against the Mughals.