Nitish Kumar resigns as Bihar CM, breaks alliance with BJP
Nitish Kumar called off the alliance between the JD(U) and BJP in Bihar and resigned as the state's chief minister on Tuesday. Nitish Kumar met Tejashwi Yadav after resigning as CM and the duo is expected to meet the Governor to stake claim to the government.
FollowNitish Kumar on Tuesday pulled the plug from the Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance and revived the Mahagathbandhan with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and other smaller parties. He met with the Governor late this afternoon to hand in his resignation. "I've resigned, and I've informed my MLAs about this," he said to the media after seeing the Governor.
After tendering his resignation as Bihar Chief Minister to Governor Phagu Chauhan, JD(U) supremo reached at the residence of RJD leader Rabri Devi in Patna. According to reports, during his meeting with Tejashwi Yadav, Nitish Kumar said, "Let us forget what happened in 2017 and begin a new chapter." Meanwhile, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) president Jitan Ram Manjhi has extended support to JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar.
According to sources, Nitish is believed to have told his party leaders at his residence that the BJP had tried to drive a wedge between the JD-U legislature party. The JD-U members from the legislature and Parliament attended the meeting at the Chief Minister's residence. To note, the Congress has already given the letter of support to Nitish Kumar.
Currently, BJP holds 77 seats in the Bihar Assembly. JD(U) holds 45, the Congress 19, the Left led by CPIML(L) has 16 and the RJD 79.
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Since the 1990s, the JD-U and BJP have been allies, but recently, they have had disagreements on topics including the Agneepath plan, the caste census, the population law, and the ban on loudspeakers. Nitish Kumar was not present for many of the events relating to the presidential and vice presidential elections, despite JDU supporting NDA candidates in those contests. The CM was absent from the NITI Aayog meeting on Sunday.
The Bihar opposition, which consists of the Congress, RJD, and Left, has openly expressed its support for Nitish and the JD despite allegations of rifts between the two allies (U). The RJD, which previously had an alliance with the JD(U), declared that if Nitish Kumar severed relations with the BJP, it would be willing to accept him and his party. As a result of allegations of corruption against Tejashwi Yadav, the then deputy chief minister, Nitish withdrew from an alliance with the RJD in 2017. In the meanwhile, the RJD disbanded its media panel and told all top officials to avoid making any statements.
Also Read | JDU-BJP alliance in Bihar on the brink of collapse? Fast-paced developments say so
(With PTI inputs)
