After days of intense speculation, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is all set to get back to the BJP, almost 18 months after he quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). This will strengthen the NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections while dealing a major blow to the INDIA grouping which loses the leader who initially brought it together.
According to PTI, a source close to Nitish was quoted as saying that the CM is likely to address a meeting of his party MLAs “around 10 am Sunday before going to Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation.” And the new government, with the BJP’s support, is expected by the evening. As reported earlier by Santosh Singh, two Deputy CMs are likely to be appointed in the matter of the post-2020 Assembly election formulation. Whether Sushil Kumar Modi is again appointed Deputy CM will be among the developments to watch out for along with what the RJD says and does.
The Congress has said Kharge tried to contact Nitish twice or thrice but the two were unable to connect. Meanwhile, a section of Bihar Congress MLAs is unreachable and the party has rushed former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel to Patna as a special observer.
Here is how the numbers will look when Nitish makes the move to the BJP and continues to keep his CM chair. The JD(U)’s 45 MLAs and the BJP’s 78, along with the support of one Independent legislator, will make up 124 MLAs. The RJD (79), Congress (19), and three Left parties together (16) have 114 MLAs, eight short of majority in a House of 243.
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Bengal test for Rahul yatra
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to resume his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Jalpaiguri in north Bengal on Sunday and the party looks like it’s pulling out all the stops to ensure it goes on smoothly in the Trinamool Congress-ruled state.
On Saturday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to TMC chairperson and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, expressing fear that some miscreants may try to show the state administration in bad light or disrupt the yatra like in Assam.
What is interesting is that it comes a day after state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has repeatedly hit out at Mamata over seat-sharing and alleged that TMC workers tore the yatra’s posters in Cooch Behar and threatened Congress workers. The Congress MP had also accused the state government of refusing his party permission for a public meeting in Siliguri. The TMC has rejected the allegations.
The developments in the state as the yatra passes through it, till February 1 with a detour to Bihar in between, will be closely watched and may perhaps help assess where the dynamics between the INDIA bloc partners stand at the moment and if the two parties can yet work out a seat-sharing pact.
In context: Adhir’s allegations came amid tension between the Congress and TMC over seat-sharing in Bengal for the Lok Sabha elections. On Wednesday, Mamata said no talks were on with the Congress, asserting that her party would contest the elections alone and that the issue of a national alliance would be decided only after the elections.
The Congress has been facing setbacks in the grouping over the last couple of days. The severest of them all is the impending exit of Nitish. Apart from Mamata, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has ruled out an alliance with the Congress.
But the Congress, as Manoj CG reports, is still holding out hope and hopes to placate the TMC chief soon. On Saturday, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh, talking about Mamata, said, “She has expressed some reservations about some comments made by some of my colleagues. But she ended up by saying she would fight the BJP uncompromisingly. So, that is what gives us hope that ultimately we will find a middle path.”
Meanwhile, Kharge will reach Uttarakhand on Sunday to address a public meeting and launch the party’s campaign in the state for the coming polls. There are five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand, all currently held by the BJP.
— With PTI inputs