Source: hindustantimes.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a coalition where the lead party has an overwhelming majority, \njunior stakeholders are loath to subsuming their entity to the bigger \npartner. Of all the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents, the\n Janata Dal (United) has made its point early on, and rightly so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its\n president and Bihar chief minister Ni ti sh Kumar has sound reasons to \nindicate that he cannot be trifled with or taken for granted by the \nBharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Having secured and encashed a respectable \nseat-sharing agreement with the BJP in the just-concluded Lok Sabha \nelections, he is gearing up for next year\u2019s assembly elections, which \nwill be crucial for his future and that of his party\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assembly \npolls are due also in Maharashtra, where the Shiv Sena hasn\u2019t fussed \nabout getting only one ministry in the Union cabinet. Kumar\u2019s stand is \nnoteworthy for this reason, and for its possible repeat value for Uddhav\n Thackeray who wasn\u2019t an easy ally to handle in Narendra Modi\u2019s first \nterm as Prime Minister. The Sena chief has mellowed as he sees electoral\n rewards in keeping the alliance that paid rich dividends in the \nparliamentary elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was on the principle of parity that \nthe JD (U) refused the single Cabinet position the BJP offered to it at \nthe Centre. Kumar reportedly found unacceptable the formula that equated\n him with NDA partners that had a smaller legislative presence in the \n17th Lok Sabha \u2014 be it the Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilash Paswan or \nRamdas Athawale\u2019s Republican Party of India, which has no seat in the \nLower House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the new House, the JD (U) will have 16 members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To\n be fair, Kumar shared power with the BJP on the basis of proportional \nrepresentation in Bihar after returning to the NDA in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With \n55 legislators in the 243member House, he gave the BJP 14 ministerial \nslots, including that of deputy chief minister to Sushil Modi. The \n73-member JD (U) kept 19 berths, including the chief minister\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\n the lead-up to the assembly polls, Kumar appears to be keen to deal on \nequal terms with the BJP regardless of the latter\u2019s renewed and improved\n mandate at the Centre. The JD (U)-centric expansion he carried out in \nhis council of ministers in Bihar after the Lok Sabha results was a \nsignal that his junior ally in the state could not have missed from its \nlofty perch at the Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The emerging contours of the JD (U)\u2019s \nties with the BJP will get clearer with the former\u2019s stance on the \nlegislative agenda and debates in the 17th Lok Sabha, whose first \nsession begins on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having reaffirmed support for the Modi \nregime, Nitish isn\u2019t about to sign on dotted lines on policy issues. For\n instance, his stand on the BJP\u2019s renewed push to make instant triple \ntalaq a punishable offence is guided by the need for consultation and \nconsensus-building on matters falling in the broader rubric of the \nuniform civil code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On\n the criminalisation of instant divorce, the JD (U) leader is sticking \nto what he told the Law Commission in 2017. He had averred in a written \nreply to the panel that the placement of Article 44 in the Directive \nPrinciples of State Policy brought home the imperative of consensus in \nsuch endeavours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are variances also between the two parties \non Articles 370 and 35A, relating to the special status of Jammu & \nKashmir that the BJP is committed to changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Likewise, Kumar\u2019s \ndemand for scrapping the 100-odd centrally sponsored schemes \u2014 to afford\n room for policymaking to states in consonance with local needs \u2014 \npromotes cooperative federalism against unitary governance, which is \ncharacteristic of singleparty majority regimes. In some ways, it is a \nreminder to the PM of his promise of \u201csabka sath, sabka vikas, sabka \nvishwas\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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