Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh is in “deep dilemma” as he faces pressure from his party Janata Dal United to resign his House post, to which he was elected as an NDA nominee, a source close to him said.
“He faces a deep dilemma. Personally, he is against the alliance with the RJD but at the same time he doesn’t want to be seen as rebelling against Nitish Kumar, who brought him to public life,” the source said.
Some other associates of Harivansh, who uses only one name, chose to underline the Bihar MP’s reluctance to quit.
“It’s difficult to say what he will do, but he doesn’t seem inclined to step down,” an associate of Harivansh, initially reluctant to talk, said when pressed.
Fourteen years ago, a similar situation had arisen when veteran communist Somnath Chatterjee refused to step down as Lok Sabha Speaker after the CPM withdrew support to the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal. The CPM later expelled Somnath but he continued to hold the Speaker’s post till the end of his term.
Associates of Harivansh said the two-time Deputy Chairman had grown close to Narendra Modi, and that he owed his second term more to the Prime Minister than to his party chief Nitish Kumar. They claimed that Harivansh was among a select few who provided “valuable inputs” for Modi’s speeches.
Questioned at a media interaction recently, JDU president Lallan Singh had, however, claimed that Harivansh had told him he was with Nitish since the JDU leader had brought him to public life.
Calls and messages to Harivansh went unanswered on Friday.
Harivansh has been under pressure to quit since the JDU snapped ties with the BJP on Tuesday and aligned with the RJD-Congress-Left Grand Alliance in Bihar.
“He should have resigned by now, but there has so far been no word from him,” a JDU source said, adding that the party could expel him if he failed to step down. Harivansh would be able to continue in his House post even if the party expels him.
The JDU source claimed that Harivansh had despite an invitation skipped a meeting of the party’s MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other leaders in Patna on Tuesday where the decision to snap ties with the BJP was taken.
“At the meeting, Nitishji had enquired whether Harivanshji was coming,” another party source said, adding that the Deputy Chairman had been the only MP to skip the meeting.
Harivansh has, however, told people close to him that he had not been invited to the meeting, sources said.
Harivansh was first elected Deputy Chairman in 2018, and then again in 2020 after getting re-elected to the Rajya Sabha on the expiry of his first term.
Modi had heaped praise on Harivansh after his 2020 elevation, professing “great respect” for him.
Presiding over the Rajya Sabha during the passage of the contentious farm bill in 2020, Harivansh had earned the wrath of the Opposition when he denied a division in the House despite a majority in favour of one. Angry protests from the Opposition had led to the suspension of several members.
“He is now known to be one of the advisers of Modiji; he doesn’t need Nitishji any more,” a JDU parliamentarian said.
Harivansh, a former newspaper editor, had served as political adviser to then Prime Minister Chandrasekhar. Both were from Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh and belonged to the Thakur caste.
