According to the sources close to the Chief Minister, reports NDTV, Nitish Kumar’s crisis with the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is his huge alarm that his ally is working to ditch him. Though Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP Chief JP Nadda had certain the CM that he would be the face of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar in the 2024 national election and the state polls a year next, it did not Kumar have faith in its alliance.
In the last few days, the political tension among the two parties has escalated, putting a question mark on the future of the alliance between the BJP and Janata Dal (United) (JNU). The Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to not attend Sunday’s Niti Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has signalled a possible split between the BJP and JD(U).
In the meantime, JDU has called a meeting for tomorrow of all MLAs, MLCs and MPs in Patna to discuss the caste census issue. “You saw JP Nadda’s remark stating that all regional parties will be replaced by the BJP. But the BJP has allies like all of us – they should think about that,” said a senior leader, Umesh Kushwaha, from Nitish Kumar’s party.
On the other hand, the opposition RJD, which is the single-largest party in the state, is having meetings as well. “Personally, I am not aware of the goings on. But we cannot ignore the fact that both parties, which together had sufficient numbers to muster a majority, have convened such meetings when an assembly session is not round the corner,” said RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwary.
