On Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party met in Patna at the house of Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad to discuss the schism in the National Democratic Alliance.
Party leaders Bhikhubhai Dalsaniya, Renu Devi, Mangal Pandey, Nitin Navin, Amrendra Pratap Singh, and Samrat Chaudhary departed Prasad’s residence after the meeting. The BJP’s Core Committee meeting has been rescheduled for today at the party headquarters in Patna.
The action occurred after the Bihar chief minister met with all JD(U) MPs and MLAs at his official house here today, amid rumours of a schism with ally BJP.
A Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) meeting was also conducted today at Rabri Devi’s house in Patna. Leaders of the CPI-ML and the Congress, both members of the state’s Opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan,’ attended the meeting.
Rumours of a developing schism between the BJP-JDU coalition in Bihar grew when Kumar skipped a major meeting of the NITI Aayog, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday and JD(U) leader RCP Singh resigned from the party. Singh, a close assistant to Nitish Kumar, announced his resignation from the party after being presented with a letter requesting an explanation on corruption accusations.
The RJD-led Opposition in the state has said that it will welcome any re-alignment in Bihar’s ruling coalition without the BJP.
Ahead of the RJD convened meeting today, Congress Bihar legislature party leader Ajit Sharma said: “If Nitish Kumar comes, we’ll welcome him. If he comes we will support him. A meeting of Mahagathbandhan is being held. We should take a decision to support (him) by considering Nitish Kumar as the CM but we’ll be able to tell you only after the meeting.”
Meanwhile, a mahagathbandhan meeting was convened at the house of state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, during which party leaders, MLAs, MLCs, and the Rajya Sabha MP authorised Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav to make a choice and stated their support for him, according to reports.
Yadav has already received the endorsement of the Congress and Left parties.
In today’s JD(U) meeting, all MLAs and MPs endorsed CM Nitish Kumar’s decision and stated their support for him. They also stated that they will continue to back Kumar’s choice.
