Janata Dal (United) leader K C Tyagi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's coalition government is totally secure and will easily last its full term, with no threat in sight either from the opposition or from partners, says KC Tyagi, a leader of a key BJP ally.
In an interaction with PTI days after stepping down as Janata Dal (United) spokesperson, in what was seen by political watchers as an outcome of his frank views on several issues that put the government in a tight spot, Tyagi asserted that his stand always aligned with the party's ideology and affirmed his full faith in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's leadership.
Brushing aside suggestions that his remarks on issues such as the Israel-Hamas war and lateral entry to senior government positions made many of his party colleagues uneasy, he said the JD(U) to him means Kumar, who is also the party president.
"I am in JD(U) only for Nitish Kumar. He is my friend and leader. (Only) his concerns matter to me," the two-term former MP, who has been active in socialist politics for more than five decades, said.
He added he will never leave the JD(U), saying that leaving Kumar is "not in my nature".
Tyagi was, however, cautious about the party's future beyond the leadership of Kumar (73).
Unlike rival Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), where Tejashwi Yadav has been accepted as the political heir to his father Lalu Prasad who keeps indifferent health, the JD(U) lacks a clear second line of leadership.
Tyagi asserted no leader can match Kumar's charisma, saying, "There is no one like Nitish Kumar." "I have worked with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad and many other socialists. There is no one like Nitish," he said, lauding the longest-serving Bihar chief minister for his honesty, lack of casteism and ushering in good governance in the state.
He maintained that he had been asking Kumar to relieve him of his spokesperson's duties for a long time, and the party president asked him to continue in his position as political advisor.
He said his opposition to lateral entry was in line with socialist politics and the support for Palestine echoed India's historical position.
Tyagi was the only National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leader who signed a statement, along with a few opposition MPs and others, condemning what they described as Israel's "genocide" of Palestinians and asking India to stop any arms supply to Israel.
Asked about the third term of the Modi government and if it would last its full term, he said, "There is no danger to the government. It faces no challenge from anywhere, either from the opposition or its own allies. It will complete its term." The seasoned leader also praised Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee as two prime ministers who were "democratically fit" for Indian democracy. While Nehru had no qualms in apologising for his mistakes, Vajpayee first prodded the Left to protest and then used it to stymie the US' bid to drag India into its war on Iraq, Tyagi noted.
He also said he liked the Congress' emergence as a strong opposition in the Lok Sabha polls, saying it was good for democracy.
Tyagi, however, took a swipe at the party, noting that Rahul Gandhi is now championing the interests of Other Backward Classes but his father Rajiv Gandhi had delivered an over two-and-a-half-hour speech in Parliament to oppose the VP Singh-led government's decision to implement the Mandal Commission report.
He also predicted a grim future for any Third Front, saying there is no scope for an alternative outside the BJP-led NDA and the INDIA bloc in the current era of sharply polarised politics.
With Nitish Kumar having a history of changing alliances, he said every party has joined hands with their betes noires, citing numerous examples, including the Congress siding with the DMK, and the BJP shaking hands with both the National Conference and the People's Democratic Party at different points in time.
Kumar has become a little more infamous, he said light-heartedly.
Tyagi, however, asserted that the wily socialist leader will not go anywhere else now and remain with the BJP.