PATNA, AUGUST 9: Nitish Kumar has ended his alliance with the BJP in Bihar and will meet the Governor early this evening to resign as Chief Minister.
Before arriving at this decision to dump the BJP for the second time, Nitish Kumar had met with his MLAs, it added.
On a day of fast-moving political developments in Bihar, Nitish Kumar, who is JD(U) president, on Tuesday resigned as Chief Minister of Bihar and submitted a support letter of 160 MLAs to Governor Phagu Chauhan. Nitish Kumar has split with ally BJP for the second time in eight years and said, “All MPs and MLAs are at a consensus that we should leave the NDA”.
Tensions between Nitish and the BJP had been rising over the past few months, with the JD(U) accusing the saffron party of weakening it. However, the resignation of Ramchandra Prasad Singh, the once trusted loyalist of Nitish, was the triggering point.
Singh, a former Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer who is popularly known as RCP, has called the JD(U) a “sinking ship” after his resignation from party. However, the JD(U) had hit back at Singh, saying its ship is sailing and not sinking.
In 2017, RCP Singh joined the union cabinet as the representative of Nitish Kumar’s party. The Bihar Chief Minister was upset about being offered only one cabinet position. Yesterday, his closest aide said that RCP Singh had decided to join the centre of his own accord and had informed Nitish Kumar that Amit Shah had said he alone was acceptable as the JDU rep in the cabinet. “Will Amit Shah decide our party’s matters?” said Rajeev Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh, who is the president of the JDU.
Nitish Kumar is reportedly convinced that Amit Shah wants to repeat the Maharashtra model in Bihar -Uddhav Thackeray was forced to quit as Chief Minister after Eknath Shinde, a senior leader from his party, the Shiv Sena, instigated a huge revolt in partnership with the BJP. Eknath Shinde was rewarded by the BJP with the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister.
RJD leader Upendra Kushwaha in a tweet congratulated Nitish Kumar for leading a “new coalition in a new form,” embracing the RJD-led ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance) to continue in office. “Congratulations to Nitish Kumar ji for assuming leadership of a new coalition, in a new form”, tweeted Kushwaha referring to the opposition Grand Alliance’s support for the JD(U) leader. “March ahead Nitish ji. The country is waiting for you”, Kushwaha added.
A meeting of the RJD-led grand alliance, comprising the Left and the Congress, also took place at Rabri Devi’s house, across the street from Nitish Kumar’s residence where all the MLAs were said to have signed a letter of support to Nitish Kumar. Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav was expected to visit the CM’s residence to hand over the letter of support any time. Sources said that Tejashwi Yadav has demanded State Home Ministry and Speaker’s position for his party.
The JD(U) today hailed Nitish Kumar, its de facto leader, for assuming the “leadership of a new coalition”, while the Left iterated its support for him in a coalition sans BJP.