Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reached the Raj Bhavan and tendered his resignation to the Governor on Sunday morning, January 28. The JD(U) chief will exit the 28-party Opposition bloc and form a coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Today, I have resigned as the Chief Minister and I have also told the Governor to dissolve the government in the state. This situation came because everything was not alright...I was taking opinions and suggestions from everyone. Today, the government has been dissolved…," he told the media in Hindi, after resigning and informing the Governor that his party has decided to sever ties with the mahagathbandhan in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi dialled the JD(U) Chief before he left for Raj Bhavan and congratulated him, sources told News18.
Meanwhile, BJP is expected to submit its 'Letter of Support' to JDU and CM Nitish Kumar by 12 noon, before the oath-taking ceremony at 4 pm in the presence of BJP national chief JP Nadda, according to the News18 report.
JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha also arrived at the BJP office in Patna after Nitish Kumar resigned.
Earlier in the day, a key BJP meeting was underway. Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLAs have been directed to stay united and not to speak against CM Nitish Kumar, sources told News18.
Having already navigated four alliance changes since 2013, the 72-year-old JD(U) chief seems poised for yet another political shift.
Despite his previous association with the mahagathbandhan and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Bihar CM's latest move would mark a return to the BJP just two years after his departure.
The
trouble between JD(U) and RJD was out in the open when Kumar attended the high tea ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan in Patna on the occasion of the Republic Day but his deputy Tejashwi Yadav skipped the function. Kumar was seen exchanging pleasantries with other guests, including BJP’s Vijay Kumar Sinha, who is also the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.
Emerging from the function, Kumar curtly told reporters that it was for Yadav and other leaders of the RJD, including Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, to comment on why they skipped the function. The only notable attendee from the party was state education minister Alok Mehta.
"There is a lot of confusion which is not in the interest of the people of the state. Only the Chief Minister can put an end to the confusion. We hope he will do so...," RJD national spokesman and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar had said on January 26.
Kumar’s latest move comes when the opposition’s INDIA bloc is already facing fractures with leaders like Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal.
