Patna: The BJP, which silently waited in the wings since the time Nitish Kumar dumped the saffron party in favour of Lalu Prasad's RJD to form the government in Bihar in August 2022 and pulled strings months before the Lok Sabha polls, emerged as the winner.
The fact that BJP capitalised on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's desperation to cling to power dealing a setback to the INDIA alliance pushed Congress further to the brink.
Nitish Kumar, who was left without any option, wanted to survive with his party and chief minister's post by joining hands with the BJP, underlines the BJP's grip in Bihar and national politics.
The sudden alignment of stars in its fortune brought the BJP back in Bihar's game of thrones. In the scenario, Nitish's switch brightens BJP's chances of multiplying its seats in Bihar in the 2024 general elections.
Just after a year-and-a half, Nitish's decision to embrace the BJP at the cost of RJD-Congress alliance gave jolt to Congress. Again, JD(U) and BJP seem in a hurry to complete the formalities to deny any chance to Congress for backdoor negotiations and scheming.
LaLu Prasad's RJD, which is the biggest party with 79 MLAs, while the BJP has 78 MLAs. Nitish Kumar sees the switch as a gain as JD(U) has 45 MLAs, Congress has 19 and the Left parties have 14 seats.
Mahagathbandhan has 160 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. As things stand, with the JD(U), the BJP and the HAM (S) can easily cross the magic figure of 122. Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular) with four MLAs supports the BJP.
The plight of Nitish Kumar became apparent as JD(U)with just 45 MLAs in a 243-member House. The BJP and RJD are two bigger parties in the state other than his JD(U). He feared the risk of being outnumbered as there was a chance of his MLAs being snatched.
Sources said Nitish's sudden decision was prompted by fears that the RJD was scheming to engineer a split in the JD(U) and form a government with Tejashwi Yadav as the chief minister.
Nitish replaced Lalan Singh as JD(U) national president over fears that Lalan, who is close to Yadav family, may scheme his ouster and help Tejashwi become the Chief Minister.
