The coalition politics is once again rife in Bihar, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who switched sides from the BJP to join the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan in 2022 is expected to take a U-turn and enter into the saffron fold once again.
Amid the speculations of rift, Nitish Kumar attended the high tea ceremony at the Raj Bhavan in Patna on the occasion of the Republic Day.
However, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD remained absent. Yadav and many other party leaders, including Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, did not turn up for the celebrations.
The seat next to that of Nitish Kumar was occupied by senior JD(U) leader and minister Ashok Kumar Choudhary who removed the slip said to be bearing the name of Yadav before occupying the chair.
When reporters asked the Bihar CM on Tejashwi’s absence he curtly reacted to his deputy’s absence from the high-tea event by saying, “Joh nahi aaye unse puchiye (Ask those who did not come).”
Nitish Kumar may rejoin the BJP-led NDA on Sunday as reports claimed the Bihar CM was unhappy with the current ‘Mahagathbandhan’, which includes parties like the Congress, RJD, and the Left parties.
The JD(U) has called a meeting of its MPs and MLAs at the Chief Minister’s residence in Patna on January 28 (Sunday) at 10 am.
The RJD urged Nitish Kumar to “clear the confusion” that was casting a shadow on the ruling Mahagathbandhan in the state. RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha told reporters here that he expected Kumar, who heads the JD(U), to make a clean breast of rumours that he was planning to vault back to the BJP-led NDA.
“We formed a government together for the welfare of the people and to defeat the BJP. The prevailing confusion is affecting public life in Bihar. Only the chief minister can dispel the confusion. We hope he will do so by this evening,” said Jha.
Meanwhile, hectic activity was seen at 10, Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to party president Lalu Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi who shares the house with her husband and younger son Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy CM.
Meanwhile, the JD(U) leaders have also been maintaining that the party was firmly with” the opposition bloc INDIA.
The leader of opposition in Bihar Vijay Kumar Sinha said the BJP’s state unit will accept whatever its the central leadership decides. Talking to PTI, Sinha said, “Our central leadership is watching the political situation in Bihar. Whatever decision is taken by our central leadership, will be accepted by BJP leaders here”.
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