Patna: The triumph of the grand alliance in the hard-fought Bihar poll battle became the biggest news in the state in 2015. The installation of the JDU-RJD-Congress government under Nitish Kumar ended an eventful year as far as politics was concerned.
Nitish was sworn-in as Chief Minister for the fifth time on November 20 and the ceremony was attended by top leaders of major anti-BJP parties showcasing Opposition unity against the Narendra Modi-led NDA at the Centre.
Campaigning for the high-stakes polls saw Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and a host of central ministers criss-crossing Bihar in a bid to undo the defeat they had met at Delhi and reconfirm that the NDA government has not lost momentum after Lok Sabha elections.
But a formidable social composition of backward castes and Muslims crafted by veterans of 'Mandal politics' Lalu Prasad and Nitish succeeded in decimating the four-party NDA as it won 178 of the 243 seats in the Bihar House.
BJP and its allies LJP, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) could muster only 58. The results also saw the return of RJD chief Lalu, who has been disqualified from contesting poll after conviction in a multi-crore Fodder scam, to the centrestage. RJD won the maximum number of 80 seats followed by JD(U) 71, BJP 53 and Congress 27.
Lalu extracted his pound of flesh and managed to install his sons Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav as Deputy Chief Minister and at number three in the government respectively. Tejaswi was chosen over many seniors within his own party like Abdul Bari Siddiqui.
Nitish managed to win the all-important position of Speaker of the 16th Vidhan Sabha for his close aide Vijay Chaudhary.
The biggest gainer was Congress, which had almost lost ground in Bihar politics, as it won 27 seats and got four ministerial berth in the new government. A lot of politics preceded before the elections in the state.
With chorus of protest against his appointee Jitan Ram Manjhi as chief minister getting shriller, Nitish had to do a course correction and returned to the seat after removing Manjhi.
But the change of guard was not a smooth affair. Proving political pundits wrong that he is a lightweight, Manjhi flouting his Dalit background did not go without a fight with his mentor.
However, knowing very well that he lacked numbers, Manjhi quit as chief minister on February 20, before the state Assembly took floor test for his government. Though he had support of a section of rebel JD(U) MLAs and BJP it was not enough to see him home in the tussle with his mentor.
After dethroning Manjhi, Nitish took oath for the fourth time on February 22 at Raj Bhawan. His government continued with the support of RJD and Congress.
Manjhi hostility towards Nitish grew with every passing day and he formed a new party Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and joined hands with BJP in the NDA grouping.
RJD also saw infighting within with Madhepura MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav raising a banner of revolt against Lalu over succession issue. Pappu's open defiance to Lalu's game plan of passing the baton to his son saw the MP out of the party.
Pappu formed his own Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) and joined hands with Samajwadi Party, NCP and others in the third front in Bihar poll. But, neither Pappu nor any other third front candidate managed to win any seat in the poll.
Samajwadi Party, which walked out of the secular alliance at the last moment and fought against RJD and JD-U, drew a blank.
Nitish, carrying a huge task of running the government with RJD and Congress, got into business immediately.
Immediately after his swearing-in, he met senior police and civil officials and instructed them to maintain rule of law "at any cost".
Nitish, who won big support from women voters in the elections, got an approval from the state cabinet on December 18 for imposing ban on liquor from April 1, 2016.
In addition to high-pitch political events, people of Bihar face jolts of the Nepal earthquake in April. There were aftershocks for nearly a fortnight killing at least 57 people in the state.
Bihar made international headlines in March but for wrong reasons due to largescale cheating in the matriculation examination.
Photograph of parents and friends scaling a four-storied building at an examination centre in Mahnar in Vaishali district to supply chits to examinees became viral and invited shame for Bihar.
In addition to some Naxal incidents in parts of Bihar, the state saw theft of a 2600-BC idol of Lord Mahavira from Jamui district in November. Faced with protests from the Jain community and repeated call from the Centre, the Nitish government recommended a CBI probe into the incident.
The idol was ultimately recovered by police from a ditch in the district on December 6.
Comments
0 comment