#Bihar Chief Minister #NitishKumar is to meet with his party MLAs today amid speculation of a split with the #BJP grows to a frenzy.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been having growing friction with the BJP since the 2019 general election when his party was offered just one seat in the Union cabinet and is to hold a meeting with his party MLAs today. The Congress and RJD have suggested they are ready for Grand Alliance if he ditches the BJP.
The BJP in the meantime reached out to Nitish Kumar twice on Monday and has said it will wait for his decision and the party’s chief strategist Amit Shah also reached out to Mr Kumar and had a telephonic conversation with him. Key leaders of the party’s state unit met Mr Kumar on Monday.
The meeting of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United begins at 11 am. Officially, it is meant to take a call on the way forward. Mr Kumar has made his growing anger with the BJP over a multitude of issues clear.
Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD, led now by Tejashwi Yadav, and the Congress have also scheduled meetings today.
Ahead of the state elections, the BJP supporting Chirag Paswan had divided the votes, his party said and is said that BJP leaders are humiliating the Chief Minister to Mr Kumar’s efforts to remove the Speaker, to the government’s failure to crack down on protesters against the Agnipath scheme for the armed forces.
In the latest instance, Mr Kumar – sources close to him suggested- feels that the BJP’s Amit Shah has been trying to remote control the state government by establishing ministers close to him. The BJP, JD(U) leaders have alleged, had even dictated who will get the party’s sole berth in the Union cabinet – RCP Singh – who Mr Kumar felt was Amit Shah’s instrument. This will ultimately leave Nitish Kumar powerless.
The frightening dismantling of the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra attributed to the BJP by Mr Thackeray’s challenger Eknath Shinde was a lesson to all and fear is rising that the same can occur in Bihar. Sources indicated that Mr Kumar was worried about a similar turn of events in Bihar.
According to sources, BJP leaders’ open criticism of Nitish Kumar had soured the alliance between the two. What really was the crux was the BJP’s backing of RCP Singh and the dictation of terms was a huge blow to the alliance.
In 2013, Nitish Kumar was unhappy with the BJP since Narendra Modi was announced as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the NDA and he allied with the RJD and the Congress two years later. But he ended it in 2017 citing corruption charges against Tejashwi Yadav, his deputy at the time and partnered with the BJP once again.
The JD(U) has condemned BJP chief JP Nadda’s dictatorial statement that “Only the BJP will remain, regional parties will disappear”. Opposition parties feel it is time to unite, perhaps and are working towards it slowly.