Political circles have been abuzz amid rumours that Nitish Kumar and his party Janata Dal (United) will ditch the struggling Opposition alliance and join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 72-year-old is expected to meet the Bihar Governor at 11.30 am today and tender his resignation, sources said. He will hold a meeting with all JD(U) legislators before leaving for Raj Bhawan to meet the Governor.
BJP sources have told NDTV that the process of Nitish Kumar breaking away from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and officially aligning with the BJP is underway. Instead of Nitish Kumar stepping down, BJP eyes reshuffling the Bihar cabinet by replacing RJD ministers with its own MLAs.
All BJP MLAs in Bihar have already given letters of support to Nitish Kumar, sources have said. The BJP and JD(U) have also finalised a seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha election due in three months.
The reports have sent RJD and the Congress into a huddle, with both parties holding several meetings to discuss the plan of action if Mr Kumar exits. JD(U) was among the top parties in Opposition’s INDIA bloc which aims to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha polls.
In the Bihar Assembly of 243, the RJD has 79 MLAs; followed by the BJP’s 78; the JD(U)’s 45′ the Congress’s 19, the CPI (M-L)’s 12, two each of the CPI(M) and CPI, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)’s four seats, and the AIMIM’s one, plus one Independent legislator.
Leaders of the RJD yesterday met at the residence of national vice-president and former chief minister Rabri Devi, who shares her government bungalow with Tejashwi Yadav, her son, and husband Lalu Prasad, who is the party president.
While some RJD leaders are said to be in favour of staking claim to form the new government, hoping to cobble up the support of eight MLAs the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ requires to go past the majority mark, others, including Tejashwi Yadav, appear to be not impressed with the idea since the JD(U) and the BJP together have more than 122 members in the 243-strong assembly.
According to sources, Tejashwi Yadav told party leaders that the game is yet to begin in Bihar.
“Whatever remained undone in two decades, we managed to get it done within a short time- be it jobs, caste census, increasing reservation, etc. ‘Bihar mein abhi khel hona baki hain’ (The game is yet to begin in Bihar)” Mr Yadav reportedly said.
