‘Could be precursor to early Lok Sabha polls’: Nitish Kumar on special Parliament session

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday asserted that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre has lent credence to his anticipation of early Lok Sabha polls by convening a special session of Parliament.

The JD(U) leader made the remark while replying to queries from journalists after returning from Mumbai where the opposition coalition INDIA held the latest round of talks.

“You need to understand that this special session is a sign that they are thinking of early polls, the possibility of which I have been seeing and sharing with you all for quite some time,” he told reporters.

The Parliament, which was last month adjourned sine die after the monsoon session, will meet from September 18 to 22 for a special session of which the Centre has not made public the agenda.

The JD(U) leader, whose party has 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha, did not respond to queries about ‘one nation one election’, but added “there are issues which will be strongly raised during the upcoming session”.

“This government is dragging its feet on the issue of caste census. Forget a caste census, it has not even begun the census which, as per norms, should have been completed long back. This government has time for all other things,” said the former NDA ally, who got a caste survey done in the state after the Centre made it clear that it would not conduct separate headcounts for social groups other than SCs and STs.

Kumar also sidestepped queries about him being made the convener of the opposition coalition, a proposal that has been in the realm of speculation ever since he hosted the first meeting of the anti-BJP front in June.

“Don’t worry. The talks went on in the most cordial fashion. We shall be working together to put up a good show in the elections,” he said.

Besides Kumar, the Mumbai conclave was attended by his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and the latter’s father Lalu Prasad, the founding president of the RJD.

Yadav fielded questions from journalists at the airport, while Prasad who stole the show with his wit in Mumbai, looked on, appearing tired from the exertion of travel.

“Instead of one nation, one election, I would suggest PM Narendra Modi to set up a committee to ensure one nation, one income, which is a crying need in view of unemployment and economic disparity. Today they are talking about one nation, one election. What next? One nation, one leader? One nation, one party? One nation, one language? One nation, one religion?” Yadav said quizzically.

“Going by their trajectory, they may even say that henceforth there shall be no elections in states and there shall be only one election to choose who would rule the Centre,” alleged the RJD leader, in line with the charge of “anti-federalism” levelled against BJP by the INDIA bloc, of which he has been made a coordination committee member.

He also expressed confidence that all constituents of the anti-BJP front will be able to amicably settle issues like seat-sharing “in meetings we will be holding in the future”.