Nitish Kumar JD(U) news: Amid high drama over the political situation in Bihar, all eyes are set on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is reportedly set to form the Bihar government with the “support of BJP” and the swearing-in ceremony is likely to take place tomorrow in Patna. If Nitish Kumar switches sides, this will be the fourth time in a decade for him to do so.
On Saturday, Kumar went on with his business as the CM of the state as usual. He flagged off a number of new fire brigade engines at the city’s veterinary college ground, and later went to Buxar for inauguration of a beautification project of a renowned temple, a project of the tourism department that is held by his deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, who remained conspicuous by his absence.
Nitish’s crossover to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is “almost certain” with the swearing-in ceremony of the CM with BJP’s support “more or less finalised”, sources told Financial Express Online on the condition of anonymity on Friday. The BJP and the JD(U) are learnt to have agreed “in-principle” to a formula where Nitish continues as CM for now, while two BJP leaders are sworn in as deputy chief ministers.
One of them is likely to be Nitish’s former deputy Sushil Kumar Modi who will take oath as the deputy CM, the sources said, adding that the swearing-in ceremony is likely to be held in Patna on Sunday.
As Nitish remained tight-lipped over the turmoil in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, Janata Dal (United)’s political adviser and spokesperson K C Tyagi told reporters in Delhi, “The INDIA bloc is on the verge of collapse. The alliance of INDIA bloc parties is almost over in Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar,” he said.
The goal and intentions with which Kumar succeeded in bringing non-Congress parties with the Congress have come unstuck, Tyagi added, asserting that their leader was “misunderstood”.
Kumar never hankered after a position in the alliance but a section of the Congress leadership repeatedly insulted him, he said.
Upon Nitish’s return to Patna, top leaders of the JD(U) began pouring in at the official residence of the party president.
Meanwhile, RJD leaders also gathered at the residence of national vice-president and former CM Rabri Devi, who shares her government bungalow with Tejashwi Yadav, her son, and husband Lalu Prasad, who is the party president. The residence is near CM’s residence and all party leaders have been asked to deposit their mobile phones outside the gates of 10, Circular Road.
Several RJD leaders arrived in Patna at Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav’s residence, which included Vijay Kumar Mandal, Lalit Kumar Yadav, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Bihar Law Minister Shamim Ahmad and Binod Jaiswal.
BJP’s core committee meeting in Patna
Meanwhile, a core committee meeting of the BJP was held in Bihar’s capital Patna. Bihar Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Vijay Kumar Sinha, Union Minister Giriraj Singh, BJP MP and former Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, Union Minister Nityanand Rai, BJP Bihar President Samrat Chaudhary participated in the meeting.
BJP state in-charge Vinod Tawde told reporters after the meeting that the party will work towards the Lok Sabha elections, and didn’t divulge anything over Nitish Kumar’s switchover. He earlier blamed the Congress for the imminent “break up” of Nitish Kumar with the opposition INDIA bloc, of which he was seen as the veritable architect.
Nitish became the CM for the first time in 2000. He took up the fight againt RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and campaigned on the plank of ‘Jungle Raj’ under Lalu Prasad. Nitish has become the CM of the state for eight times now.
In 2013, he came out of the NDA after a 17-year alliance, after Narendra Modi was announced as the PM candidate. He returned as the CM in 2015 after forging an alliance with the RJD and Congress and other smaller parties to forme the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government. It won 178 out of the 243 seats. In 2017, he walked out of the alliance, and Nitish came into an alliance with the BJP and formed the government.
In August 2022, Nitish again snapped ties with the BJP and formed the Mahagathbandhan government.
If Nitish Kumar goes with the BJP-led NDA, it will certainly be a big blow to the ruling Mahagathbandhan in Bihar as well as the Opposition bloc alliance in the national level ahead of the Lok Sabha elections which is scheduled in April-May this year.