Hours after resigning as Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar yesterday met governor Keshari Nath Tripathi with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders and staked claim to form a new government with the support of the BJP.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal has sought time to meet the governor to stake claim to form government saying that they were the largest single party and had support of some Janata Dal (United) MLAs too.
Sources said the governor has asked the RJD leaders to meet him at 11am today.
“Sought time to meet governor. Being the single largest party in the assembly will claim to form government. We have also support of some JD-U MLAs who won elections against BJP,” Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav tweeted.
After holding a meeting of NDA and JD-U legislators at his official residence, Nitish and senior BJP leaders, including former deputy chief minister Sushil Modi went to meet the governor to stake claim to form the government.
Before leaving for Raj Bhavan, senior BJP leader, Nand Kishore Yadav said, “We are going to meet the governor to stake claim to form government.”
Ending a 20-month-long coalition of the Grand Alliance that defeated the BJP in 2015, Nitish met the governor and handed his resignation claiming he can’t work in the “current circumstances” following corruption charges against Tejashwi Yadav – son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
In the 243-member assembly, the RJD has 80 MLAs, the JD-U 71 and Congress 27. The BJP has 53 MLAs and its allies Lok Janshakti Party 2, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party 2 and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) 1. There are four independents and four MLAs belong to the CPI-ML.
The JD-U and BJP together make up for 124 seats and with BJP allies the total could go up to 129, clearly crossing the half-way mark.
Later Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted “many many congratulations to Nitish Kumar for joining the fight against corruption. 125 crore citizens of the country welcome and support this honest move.”
“It is the need of the hour to rise above political differences for the bright future of Bihar and unite in the fight against corruption,” he added.
Ever since the Central Bureau of Investigation filed cases of corruption against Tejashwi Yadav, his father Lalu Prasad and sister Misa Yadav, pressure had been mounting on the chief minister to sack his deputy.
But any action against the deputy chief minister could have evoked the wrath of the RJD, whose support was vital for Nitish Kumar.
Giving reasons for his decision to quit, Nitish said that with a slew of corruption charges, he expected Tejashwi Yadav to give an explanation that could have formed the basis for his continuing in office.
“I waited so that we could have found a way out but nothing of the sort happened. The charges were against a member of the government. I was not in a position to do anything. There was no basis for the government to function.
“In such a situation, it was not possible for the government to function. I heeded to the call of my conscience and decided to resign.”
Nitish said he told Lalu Prasad, Congress leader C P Joshi and the JD-U Legislature Party about his decision to resign.
Nitish said he had faced a lot of criticism for supporting Modi’s demonetisation scheme and for backing Ram Nath Kovind – “who had done a good job as governor of Bihar and whose becoming the president was a matter of pride for the state”.

No patch-up with ‘disrespectful’ Lalu: JD-U
JD-U leader K C Tyagi yesterday said the decision of forming the Grand Alliance government in Bihar was “a mistake” and ruled out any possibility of patch-up with the RJD. Speaking to reporters after RJD chief Lalu Prasad addressed the media in Patna, Tyagi said: “After such allegations there is no point of going along with them. They (RJD) are now untouchable for us.” The JD-U spokesperson said that Nitish Kumar had never used harsh language against Lalu Prasad but the latter “used disrespectful words” for the JD-U president. “It is shameful. We regret our decision to run the government with such a person (Lalu Prasad) for 20 months. We blame ourselves for committing a mistake of taking their MLA count from 22 to 80. If needed, we will hold a fast to repent our actions,” the JD-U leader added. His reaction came after Lalu Prasad said in Patna that Nitish Kumar’s resignation was “pre-planned” and he had not ruled out aligning with the BJP.




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