Kanhaiya Kumar meets Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's aide Ashok Choudhary amid facing CPI censure

In a startling development, CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Sunday met with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's aide Ashok Choudhary, which has raised several eyebrows. Kanhaiya - a former JNU student - met with Choudhary, who is also a minister in Nitish Kumar's cabinet, in tune with his soft attitude towards the 7-time CM. In 2016, Nitish Kumar had come out in support of Kanhaiya when the JNU controversy erupted in 2016.

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Kanhaiya meets Nitish's key aide

Choudhary, who was previously JDU state chief played an instrumental role recently in enlisting the support of the sole BSP MLA Zama Khan and independent legislator Sumit Singh, both of whom were inducted into the cabinet last week. Previously, Choudhary had also invited the sole LJP MLA Raj Kumar Singh to his residence for a book launch function a few weeks back. Kanhaiya's meeting with Chiudhary comes amid facing a censure motion by CPI in Hyderabad.

Kanhaiya had faced a censure motion for allegedly misbehaving with party office secretary Indu Bhushan at the party's Patna office on December 1, 2020. Reports state that Kanhaiya was infuriated when a party meeting in Begusarai was cancelled, leading to his alleged misbehaviour. Kanhaiya had also butted heads with CPI during Lok Sabha when the CPI reportedly insisted that he share a part of the money he had raised through crowd-funding. The former JNU student leader had lost to Union minister Giriraj Singh by a massive margin in the 2019 polls.

Incidentally, during the Bihar polls, when asked about Tejashwi as CM face, Kanhaiya Kumar said, "he is the leader of the largest constituent of the coalition. So, it's natural that he will be the leader and there is no question about it." Kumar himself was not fielded by CPI which won 2 seats.

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JD(U)'s reduced clout

Banking on Nitish's 15-year consecutive term, the NDA had flaunted his '7 promises', listing the various schemes and development work carried out by his government in the past tenures during the poll campaign. Faced with anti-incumbency, the NDA managed to eke out a majority winning 125 seats, compared to Mahagathbandhan's 110 seats with BJP emerging with an edge over the JDU. Nitish's stature was reduced as his party won only 43 seats - down from 71 in 2015, while BJP bettered its tally winning 74 seats. BJP further asserted its dominance, by shifting Nitish's preferred deputy - Sushil Modi to the Rajya Sabha and installing two deputy CMs - 4-time MLAs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi instead.

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(With PTI Inputs)