NEW DELHI: One of the vital names coming up, apart from CM Nitish Kumar’s close aides in the party in his reorganisation plan is his son Nishant.
The majority of the Janata Dal United (JDU) leaders are seen to be uncertain about the future of their party. This has led the party figurehead and chief minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar hatch a reorganisation plan where he would replace the leaders at top and also launch his 49 year old son Nishant in politics and also set a new political objective to infuse motivation among his leaders, according to sources.
While the leaders close to Nitish call it a challenge for him to pick leaders, who can determine future course of his party. Yet, one of the vital name coming up, apart from his close aides in the party like Shrawan Kumar, Ashok Chaudhary, Lallan Singh, Sanjay Jha and Vijay Chaudhary, in his reorganisation plan is his son Nishant.
A source privy to the developments said, “All these leaders like Sanjay Jha, Vijay Chaudhary, Shrawan Kumar, Lallan Singh, Ashok Chaudhary have free access to CM house. They can advise the CM and he will listen to them. However Shrawan is not someone who can advise Nitish. He is someone who will listen to Nitish eyes closed, he doesn’t have ambitions. He comes from the same caste (Kurmi) as does Nitish. We can say that he is a shadow man of Nitish. And thus he could be made the national president of the JDU. He cannot do anything on his own thereby he is the right man to be given the charge of the party while at the same time running it under the instructions of Nitish.”
Apart from Nitish’s political advisors, who have been present in the political space for a long as well as for the CM, Nishant has, according to sources, shown little to no presence in political activities earlier. It is also said that his stays are limited to chief minister’s house supplemented by occasional visits to his home district Nalanda once a month. However, the father-son duo visited their home district (Nalanda) together recently where they prayed at a temple and attended social and political functions.
A political analyst said, “Nishant is an engineer just like his father. He speaks very well when he is confronted by questions from media. Yet the question stands what position will he be given if he formally joins the JDU. Will he be offered constitutional position or will he be given organisational post. That is to be seen.”
He continued, “How he is going to use his son is important, if Nitish wants to do something, he won’t tell it to anyone, his left pocket does not know what is in his right pocket. There is another thing about Nitish that if there is a rumour flying about him, there are high chances that it would be true because if we analyse the last half a dozen speculations about him, most of them have turned out to be true. It could be after elections that a platform would be created for him.”
A political watcher based in Bihar said, “What positions could be available for his son in the party? When we talk about Nitish Kumar all options are open. He can do anything. He can give him a top position in the party. He can send him to legislative council of Bihar. He can negotiate and make political adjustments in such a way that he would be able to make Nishant Rajya Sabha Member Parliament. And for that he can strike a deal with anyone. With any party.”