Patna: With Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the cusp of parting ways with the grand alliance in the state to return to the NDA, all eyes are now on the legislature party meetings of the respective parties scheduled for Saturday. Nitish Kumar, who united the anti-BJP parties across the country against PM Modi and BJP government at the Centre to form the INDIA opposition bloc, seems to be leaning towards NDA once again.
Rifts surfaced in the Mahagathbandhan on the Republic Day when Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav skipped the high tea hosted by Governor at the Raj Bhavan in the evening. When CM Kumar was asked about his deputy's absence at the event, he said, “Ask the person who has not come”.
As squabbles between the two major parties of the Grand Alliance, RJD and JDU started coming to the fore, RJD leader and MP Manoj Jha demanded Nitish to “clarify the confusion”. JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar retorted saying Nitish Kukar was “never in confusion and plays politics on the front foot”. “If someone is confused, it is his problem. We are clear," Kumar said.
To make matters worse for the coalition, CM Nitish Kumar openly raised the issue of “familyism” on the 100th birth anniversary of former CM Karpoori Thakur leaving the Congress and the RJD in a tizzy in the backdrop of BJP's go-to swipe of “parivarvaad” to target the twin parties. With Nitish seeming all but done with the Mahagathbandhan, all eyes are now on the numbers in the 243-seat Bihar assembly. RJD currently has 79 MLAs whereas JDU has 45 MLAs, Congress has 19 MLAs and Left parties have 16 MLAs in the assembly besides one AIMIM MLA.
Nitish Kumar's JDU also has the support of an independent MLA. That means a total of 160 MLAs are currently with the Grand Alliance while the majority mark is 122. With regard to the NDA, in case of Nitish Kumar's exit from the grand alliance, BJP has 78 MLAs while Jitan Manjhi's party HAM has the support of only four MLAs with the number set to reach 128 with the support of JDU's 45 seats and one independent MLA. Under this equation, Kumar looks poised to retain his CM post with the BJP's support.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is also said to play a crucial role in the formation of the next government with his sway over Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM and some JDU MLAs. It is also said that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar can dismiss RJD ministers and run the government with the support of HAM along with BJP.
