Bihar is all set to have a Maharashtra’s Maha Vikas Aghadi-type of coalition government comprising all non-NDA parties as state chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) indicated that it may break alliance with the BJP.
Sources said that Nitish Kumar has already spoken to interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the leaders of the three Left parties – CPI(ML), CPI(M), and CPI, besides Lalu Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav, leaders of the main opposition party RJD.
The realignment is worked out as all the opposition parties have agreed to support Nitish Kumar as the chief minister. According to sources, all the supporting parties are likely to join the new government which will be sworn in within this week.
All the non-NDA parties have called their MLAs to Patna where formal approval for supporting a new government would be sought from them. Congress general secretary in charge of Bihar Bhakt Charan Das has flown into the state capital to iron things out.
A formal announcement of breaking the alliance with the BJP is likely to be made by the JD(U) after the meeting of its MPs and MLAs scheduled to take place at Patna on Tuesday.
Politics in Bihar took a critical turn on Sunday with JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh attacking his party’s ally BJP without naming it. Singh said attempts were made in the past to get JD(U) candidates defeated in assembly elections.
He said “Chirag Model” was used in Bihar by getting Ramvilas Paswan’s son Chirag Paswan to field candidates against the JD(U) to reduce the number of JD(U) MLAs in the state legislature. There were reports that Chirag Paswan was supported by the BJP in the last election.
Singh said the JD(U) survived the last attempt, but another attempt was being made now to finish off the JD(U). Singh did not elaborate on how the BJP was attempting to finish off the JD(U) but hinted that former JD(U) president RCP Singh was at the centre of a conspiracy to split the party.
The JD(U) issued a show-cause notice to RCP Singh following which he resign each from party membership.
Speaking to reporters at Patna, JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi said "Nitish Kumar is the undisputed leader of the JD(U). He commands respect in the rank and file of the party. Whatever decision is taken by the party under Nitish Kumar's leadership will be accepted by everyone."
RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwary said that convening meetings of legislators by both parties on Tuesday were a clear indication that the situation was extraordinary.
“We cannot ignore the fact that both parties, which together had sufficient numbers to muster a majority, have convened such meetings when an assembly session is not round the corner,” Tiwary told reporters.
He said “if Nitish chooses to dump NDA, what choice do we have except to embrace him. RJD is committed to fighting the BJP. If the chief minister decides to join this fight, we will have to take him along.”
Nitish Kumar has indicated his unhappiness with his ally BJP by skipping a series of meetings called by the central government. Most recently, he did not attend the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to honour the newly-elected President Draupadi murmur.
Kumar also did not attend the Niti Ayog meeting of all chief ministers.
Ties between the two parties had frayed over the last few months following a series of disagreements between them over a host of issues including caste census, population control and the 'Agnipath' defence recruitment scheme.