Patna: In the Mahagathbandhan meeting on Tuesday, RJD MLAs, MLCs and Rajya Sabha MP authorised party leader Tejashwi Yadav to take a decision and said that they are with him. Congress and Left parties MLAs have already extended their support to Tejashwi Yadav. Amid reports of an ongoing rift between Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar, MLAs and leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal arrived at the residence of Rabri Devi, wife of party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in Patna on Tuesday. The meeting of the RJD convened by its leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the son of Lalu Yadav, also saw leaders of the CPI(ML) and Congress, part of Mahagathbandhan, the grand Opposition alliance in the state, according to Ajit Sharma, Congress Bihar legislature party leader
The RJD leaders arriving for the meeting were asked to hand over their mobile phones ahead of the meeting. Rumours of a growing rift between the BJP-JD(U) intensified after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar skipped a key meeting of the NITI Aayog, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday and JD(U) leader RCP Singh tendered his resignation from the party. Singh, once considered a close aide of Nitish Kumar, had announced his exit from the party after being served a notice seeking an explanation on allegations of corruption.
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The RJD-led Opposition in the state has meanwhile said that it will welcome any re-alignment in Bihar's ruling coalition without the BJP. "For a long time, the people of Bihar had been wanting the government with BJP to go and a people's government to be formed. The BJP, which has captured the power in Maharashtra, wanted to do the same in Bihar also, but we will not let their intentions succeed. We will support and overthrow the BJP from power," said Mahboob Alam, MLA of the CPI(ML), who arrived for the RJD meeting, said today.
Bihar Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha said, "There seems to be a situation of instability and in such a situation then definitely something will come out. The Central government has been using the Central agencies. The situation has never been right for the past one year." The Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani had earlier said that the BJP was indulging in politics of finishing its own alliance partners in many states. It tried to break the JD(U), but Nitish took action. Earlier, too, it did politics through Chirag Paswan. It's better to take timely action," Sahani said.
Separately, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has also called a meeting of MPs, MLAs and MLCs at his official residence. JD(U) MLC Kumud Verma and party MP Sunil Kumar were seen arriving at the residence of the Chief Minister. The RJD had emerged as the single-largest party in the 2020 Assembly elections in which the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 125 seats--BJP won 74, the JD(U) bagged 43, Congress secured 19, the Vikassheel Insaan Party got four and Hindustan Awaam Party (Secular) bagged four seats.
