Within a week the disgruntled JD(U) leader and former party Rajya Sabha member Shivanand Tiwari has fired another salvo against party leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while calling him an ‘arrogant’ leader with big inflated ego. Earlier too, Tiwari has slammed Kumar over the manner he was being denied re-nomination to Rajya Sabha and served “ultimatum” to consider for contesting lok Sabha poll.
“He is an arrogant leader and there is no place for anyone in the party who disagrees with him,” charged Shivanand Tiwari in a rejoinder to State party chief Basistha Narayan Singh.
While slamming Kumar further Tiwari has further written that “Nitish Kumar is a person who always believes in the mantra of ‘I’…a dictator who does not like to listen views of other party leader or people”.
Earlier too, the apparently anguished and hurt JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari had shot off a loaded letter to State party president Basistha Narayan Singh for serving him ultimatum to decide on contesting the upcoming lok Sabha poll. He had charged that Kumar wanted him to contest the lok Sabha poll at this eleventh hour to ensure his defeat and not to win.
Both Kumar and Basistha Narayan Singh had refused to take any action against Tiwari for his salvo targeted at Nitish and the party.
“Party will not take any action against him for his anguished letter,” said the State party chief while reminding Shivanand Tiwari that it was his opinion to field all the retiring RS members in the upcoming lok Sabha poll, and not of Nitish Kumar.
While reacting over this, Shivanand Tiwari has said that he was trying to defend a leader (Nitish Kumar) whose “dictatorial style of functioning” was known to everybody.
His dictatorial style of functioning was also reflected at the time when Nitish had denied ticket to party leader Digvijay Singh from Banka in 2009 general elections. “Will you explain why Digvijay Singh was denied the ticket despite being a tall leader in JD(U)IJ”, Tiwari in his second letter asked the State party chief.
Digvijay Singh had contested as an independent candidate and won the 2009 lok Sabha poll from Banka and after his untimely death his wife Putul Singh retained the seat. Putul Singh recently has joined BJP to contest the poll from her constituency.
“It is surprising that NK Singh was offered the Banka seat to contest against Putul Singh, widow of Digvijay Singh”, wondered Shivanand Tiwari, NK Singh too had recently refused to contest the lok Sabha poll from Banka.
It was amusing when Sabir Ali was denied re-nomination to RS as “he was brought from the lJP on the promise of giving him a second term in Rajya Sabha, a promise on which Kumar had reneged upon.
“It speaks volumes about his arrogance”, said the senior JD(U) leader who is known for his straight political talks. Tiwari, sources close to him told The Pioneer, was expecting that he would be denied re-nomination to Rajya Sabha for long as there was no talk between him and Nitish Kumar for several months.
Earlier, he had rebuked Kumar for ignoring him in the party at the party’s two-day Chintan Shivir at Rajgir. He also had admonished the Bihar Chief Minister for keeping leaders around him who have no political experience at all and said that he could not achieve big in the company of such leaders. Tiwari, above all, had also praised BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi for his political rise and strength.
“The Rajgir outpourings proved last nail in their relationship and finally Tiwari was not only dropped from his RS seat but virtually was shown the door”, said a State party leader.
Though, Tiwari, later, kept cornering Narendra Modi on various occasions to assuage the ruffled feathers of Nitish Kumar but all finally went in vain.
It was Nitish Kumar’s big inflated ego which finally came in the way of his re-nomination and also took away the political future of other two leader NK Singh and Sabir Ali.
The buzz in the political corridor is that Tiwari would not stop here and is ready to fire many more salvos at Nitish in the days to come. He is also exploring options for his future political course with other leaders “but it all depends on how he could manage the complexities,” said an observer.
Meanwhile, oblivious of what Tiwari has been spewing against him, the Bihar Chief Minister was busy in his Sankalp Yatra addressing people in different districts of the State. However, at most of the places people were seen protesting against him at his Sankalp meetings.