Amid political buzz that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may come out of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ and form new government with BJP’s support, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Kumar Jha rubbished the claims, saying they are “mere rumours”.
“All this is a rumour. And the restlessness which has arisen due to this rumour can only be taken care of by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. I have not received any response from him yet,” Jha said speaking to ANI on Saturday.
He said that he doesn’t see any rift in the Mahagathbandhan alliance, and it is flourishing under the leadership of Kumar.
“Bihar is a topic of discussion in the whole country and for good reason. I don’t see any rift…In the end, the head of this ‘mahagathbandhan’ is Nitish Kumar. Lalu Prasad and Tejaswi Yadav laid the foundation, the purpose of which was to defeat the hate politics being done by Prime Minister Modi. That has been achieved and is flourishing,” he said.
Meanwhile, RJD leader Mrityunjay Tiwari on the speculations of rift between the JD(U) and the RJD, said, “When there is no distance between their hearts, then the distance between the chairs does not matter.” He also said that the rumours about Nitish Kumar’s switch to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) should be brought to an end.
Speculations are rife that Kumar may cross over to the NDA again, an alliance he left in 2022 to join hands with the opposition and form ‘Mahagathbandhan’, comprising the RJD, JD(U) and the Congress.
It all started when former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Singapore-based daughter Rohini Acharya took a swipe at RJD’s ruling ally, JDU, on ‘X’, posting that while the ‘socialist party’ (JDU) styles itself as progressive, its ideology shifts with the changing wind patterns, a statement which triggered cracks within the ruling alliance.
If Nitish crosses over again, this would be the fourth time he would be switching sides. Reportedly, Nitish Kumar would form the government again with BJP’s support and BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi will be the deputy CM.
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.
Meanwhile, amid the political situation in the state, the Bihar government on Fridat transferred 22 IAS, 79 IPS and 45 Bihar Administrative Service (BAS) officers, reports PTI.
The transferred officers included five district magistrates (DMs) and 17 SPs.
According to a notification by the general administration department, Patna DM Chandrasekhar Singh, a 2010-batch IAS officer, has been made special secretary in the chief minister’s secretariat.
Kumar on Friday arrived in Buxar for the inauguration of the development work at Brahmeshwar Temple.