BIhar BJP in a huddle, Oppn opens arms as Nitish Kumar gears up for his next move

Senior BJP leaders in Bihar met at the residence of deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad in Patna on Monday evening amid rising speculations over the next move of its ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) who chief Nitish Kumar meet party MPs at 11am on Tuesday.

According to reports, Kumar met his deputy briefly earlier in the day as several reports of the chief minister being unhappy with the ally continued to emerge.

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Opposition in the state has said it would embrace Kumar and lend a helping hand if the latter ditched the saffron camp. The RJD, now headed by Lalu Prasad’s son Tejashwi, will also hold a separate meeting at 11am on Tuesday.

State Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha said all the party MLAs have arrived in the capital and would remained holed up till August 10. “Our party’s decision will be taken by the party high command. We are already in an alliance with the RJD and are yet to speak with the CM,” Jha told reporters. He earlier said there was no official information on Kumar speaking with Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, but local leaders were not denying the same either.

Left parties have said that they would welcome any re-alignment of forces in the Bihar’s ruling coalition without the BJP.

Meanwhile, Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani said the BJP is indulging in politics of finishing its own alliance partners in many states. “It tried to break the JD(U) but Kumar took action. Earlier too, it did politics through Chirag Paswan. It’s better to take timely action,” Sahani was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Rumours of a growing rift intensified after Kumar skipped a key meeting of the NITI Aayog, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Sunday morning. Hours later, a meeting of party MPs was scheduled for Tuesday. During the day, a senior leader of the JD(U) said there would be no representation from the party in the Union council of ministers.

On Saturday, RCP Singh, once considered a close aide of Kumar, quit the party after being served a notice seeking explanation on allegations of corruption. Singh, the only face in the Cabinet, had to resign as the Union minister, after Kumar denied him another ticket for the Rajya Sabha.