Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resigned on Tuesday breaking his alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kumar, earlier in the day, held a meeting with the JD(U) leaders to discuss his next future political moves. He then sought time from Governor Phagu Chauhan.

Around 4 pm, Kumar arrived at Raj Bhavan and met Governor Phagu Chauhan and apprised him of his decision to quit as the state chief minister.

Earlier, in the JD(U) meeting today, all MLAs and MPs of the party supported chief minister Kumar’s decision and said that they were with him. They also asserted that they will continue to support Kumar in his decision.

Police personnel was seen deployed in force outside the chief minister’s residence.

According to sources, many JD(U) legislators told chief minister Kumar in today’s meeting that the alliance with the BJP had weakened them since 2020.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan opposition alliance was also held here today at former chief minister Rabri Devi’s residence with the participation of leaders of the CPI-ML and the Congress – part of the Opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ alliance in the state.

According to sources, after the meeting, Rashtriya Janata Dal MLAs, MLCs, and Rajya Sabha MP authorized party leader Tejashwi Yadav to take a decision and asserted their support for him. According to sources, Congress and Left parties MLAs have also expressed their support for Yadav.

Sources said that RJD party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav is closely watching the developments but everything was being done by Tejashwi Yadav.

Meanwhile, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Rohini Acharya took to Twitter to post about an impending political change in the state. ”Get ready for the coronation, lantern holder”, she tweeted in Hindi and added a ‘victory’ emoticon to it.

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.”

Bihar BJP leaders also met at deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad’s residence in Patna on Tuesday.

Tej Pratap Yadav claims he had a secret meeting in public with Nitish Kumar, says he’s Lord Krishna who would change govt in Bihar

Tej Pratap Yadav had already indicated to the media earlier in April this year that he had spoken with Nitish Kumar and that Tejashwi Yadav will take over as Bihar’s Chief Minister soon. He stated that Nitish is pleased and that he would disclose the details of the entire strategy when the time is right. Tej Pratap Yadav and Nitish Kumar sat next to each other during the Iftar party. During this, a conversation also took place between the two.

“Earlier I had put up ‘No Entry’ board (for Bihar CM Nitish Kumar), & now I have put up Entry ‘Nitish Chacha Ji’ board, so he came,” he said. “Since he came, govt will be formed…will form govt, it’s a secret. I had a word with Nitish Ji secretly,” he further added.

When asked whether he considers himself Lord Krishna of the politics in Bihar, he said that there is no doubt about it. “Why ask the same question every other time? is there any doubt about it?” he said. He went on to say that they had hosted an Iftar party at which not only Nitish Ji, but also BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain, LJP’s Chirag Paswan, and other politicians had attended.

Nitish Kumar, and Tejashvi Yadav stake claim to form government in Bihar, says have support of 7 parties

Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday staked a claim to form a new government in Bihar. The two leaders claimed to have the support of seven parties with 164 MLAs, including Independents.

The development came hours after Kumar submitted his resignation as the Bihar chief minister to Governor Phagu Chauhan. He said there was consensus among the MLAs and MPs of his party that the Janata Dal (United) should quit the National Democratic Alliance.

Political developments gathered pace in Bihar as the JD(U) on Sunday said it will not be a part of the expansion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Union Cabinet. Kumar had also skipped the NITI Aayog meet chaired by the prime minister on the same day.

RCP Singh, once a close aide of Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar, accuses him of betraying the mandate of the 2020 Assembly polls in the favour of the BJP-led NDA. Last week, Singh resigned from the Janata Dal (United) after the party sought his response to corruption allegations leveled against him.

Memes, and jokes flood the Internet as Nitish Kumar resigns as Bihar CM, and political drama ensues

Amid all this political turmoil, the Internet has exploded with memes and jokes on the ‘palti babu’ who has once again switched alliances.

Many think Nitish Kumar as the opposition leader would like to portray himself as the PM candidate in the upcoming 2024 elections. However, the ‘united opposition’ is far from united when it comes to the PM candidate as everyone wants to be the one to ‘defeat Modi’ which at this point seems quite unlikely.

Many feared that this may bring back the jungle raj, where under RJD rule, the law and order situation in Bihar had hit rock bottom.

Nitish first formed an alliance with BJP in 2005 and won elections. He won the 2010 elections also in alliance with the BJP. In 2013 he snapped ties with BJP. In 2015, Nitish joined hands with RJD and contested elections, and formed government. However, in 2017, the alliance broke and he formed the government again with the BJP alliance. He then contested the 2020 elections in Bihar with the JDU-BJP alliance and won and now, 2 years later, he again decided to break the alliance with BJP and will likely form a government with the RJD. It is because of these multiple flip-flops that Nitish Kumar is called ‘Palti Kumar’ or as suggested by Twitter users, giving tough competition to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for u-turns.

Surbhi @suurbhiii writes, "By again moving out of JDU-BJP alliance, Nitish Kumar has rightly earned the moniker of "Paltu Ram" Let's see how long his Mahagadhbandhan 2.0 with RJD and Congress survives!"

In fact, the jokes had started from last evening itself as early hints suggested he may break the alliance.

Some even joked that this perhaps would be an ideal time to break the JDU as a party and make Nitish Kumar irrelevant like the Thackerays in Shiv Sena.

Meanwhile, as per the latest reports, Nitish Kumar, along with Tejashwi Yadav has reached Raj Bhawan in Bihar where it is expected they would stake claim to form a government and it is likely again that he will be chief minister of the state with just a different alliance partner.

References:

opindia.com
ANI