Nitish quits INDIA, to head NDA govt in Bihar. ‘Like a chameleon,’ says Congress

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Patna: Dealing a big blow to the INDIA alliance, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar handed over his resignation to Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at around 11 am Sunday, putting an end to the Mahagathbandhan government in the state. He is likely to be sworn-in as CM for the ninth time, later in the day, this time leading an NDA government.

Speaking to reporters, he said: “I have submitted my resignation, and the government has been dissolved. It has come to this because things were not going well. I have heard the opinions of my party leaders. I had left the previous alliance and formed the (INDIA) alliance, but the situation is not looking good.”

He further said: “People in the party were not comfortable with this alliance. We were facing problems due to RJD’s attitude. The people of INDIA alliance are not serious. I have severed ties…I was quiet for some time. No one was doing any work. I’m out!”

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh reacted to the Bihar CM’s move in a post on X: “Nitish Kumar, who frequently changes political partners, is giving tough competition to the chameleons in changing colours. The people of Bihar will not forgive the architects of this betrayal and those dancing to their tunes. It is quite clear that the Prime Minister and the BJP are worried about the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and this political drama has been created to divert attention from it.”

Following a legislative party meeting, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde told reporters: “All MLAs unanimously passed the proposal to form the NDA government in Bihar with BJP, JD(U) and other NDA allies for the welfare of the people in the state. Samrat Chaudhary has been elected as the leader of the legislative party, Vijay Sinha elected as the deputy leader.”

Sources said it is likely that Samrat Choudhury will be named as one of two deputy CMs.

The timing of the swearing-in ceremony is unclear. A section of JD(U) MLAs says it will be held Sunday while another section says it may be held Monday. However, sources said the CM had already sought time from the governor.

ANI quoted JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi as saying that the Congress “wanted to steal the leadership of the INDIA alliance”, and that “through a conspiracy, Mamata Banerjee was made to propose Kharge’s name as PM face”.

Tyagi said: “In the meeting that took place on 19 December, through a conspiracy, to get the leadership of INDIA alliance, Mallikarjun Kharge’s name was proposed (as PM face), earlier in the meeting that took place in Mumbai, it was unanimously decided that without any PM face, INDIA alliance will work…through a conspiracy, Mamata Banerjee was made to propose Kharge’s name as PM face…”

He added: “All other parties have made their own identity by fighting against Congress…Congress kept dragging the seat sharing, we kept saying that seat sharing needs to happen immediately…INDIA lacked plans to fight against BJP.”

Also Read: Mamata rules out reconciliation with Congress — ‘brought big yatra to Bengal but gave me no info’ 

Why resignation got delayed

A day earlier, Kumar’s bid to join the BJP-led NDA seemed to have got delayed because of resentment among a section of BJP MLAs who were to give signatures of support to the leader.

He was expected to drive to the Raj Bhawan around 9 pm Saturday to resign and stake claim to the government after obtaining signatures of support from 78 BJP MLAs, but could not go because a meeting chaired by BJP’s organisational secretary Vinod Tawde in the presence of senior party leaders could not get the required number of signatures.

“The meeting started at 5 pm and it was expected it would wind up by 7 pm, after which a letter of support would be given to Nitish Kumar. But, even after 150 minutes, only 54 of the 78 MLAs had signed the letter of support. The rest appeared to have slipped out of the meeting. Around 7.30 pm, it was decided to postpone the meeting till 9 am Sunday. In the meantime, efforts were to be made to obtain the signatures of the remaining 24 MLAs,” a BJP MLA present at the meeting told ThePrint.

He said there was a lot of resentment against Nitish’s re-entry into the NDA after he had quit it in 2022 and joined hands with the RJD.

“At the meeting, quite a few legislators indicated that the party was losing a golden chance of showing that it was capable of winning polls against the combined force of (RJD chief) Lalu Prasad and Nitish in Bihar. It will have an impact on the next assembly election if we win 25 of the state’s 40 (Lok Sabha) seats alone in the coming election, instead of winning 35 seats along with Nitish,” the BJP MLA remarked.

He added that there were several factors in favour of the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls, particularly the wave created by the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the party’s own charisma and a huge population of beneficiaries of government welfare scheme.

Most BJP leaders coming out of the meeting were tight-lipped but party MP Chhedi Paswan could not hold back his anger. “Nitish Kumar is a regular Paltu Ram who has betrayed the BJP twice earlier. What is the guarantee that he will not do it again?” he said before the media.

JD(U) leaders also seemed annoyed over the development. “I cannot believe that BJP MLAs would not fall in line after the diktat of the central leadership of the party. Perhaps it is a game plan of the BJP to humiliate Nitish Kumar,” said a senior party leader.

‘Nitish has betrayed everyone’

Nitish, once nicknamed ‘Paltu Ram’ by Lalu, has a long history of making U-turns in his political career.

The RJD, which he has again dumped as ally now, held a meeting of its MLAs Saturday in the wake of the new developments.

Several MLAs at 5, Circular Road, the party’s official headquarters, expressed anger at Nitish. “Nitish is Paltu Ram. He has betrayed everyone in the past,” remarked RJD MLA Vijay Mandal.

Some others showed restraint. “Till now, the government of the mahagathbandhan exists and Nitish Kumar is the CM,” said RJD minister Lalit Yadav.

The mood of the legislators was subdued and RJD MP Manoj Jha declared that the MLAs had authorised Lalu to make the next move.

“Tejashwi Yadav (RJD leader and deputy CM) has told us to be ready to hit the streets and tell people that 2 lakh teachers’ appointment and caste survey hike in quotas in government jobs for the downtrodden sections was possible due to us,” an RJD MLA not wanting to be named told ThePrint.

He added that there will be no move by the RJD to form a government and resistance to the NDA will begin after the swearing-in ceremony has been held.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)

Also Read: Kharge to be ‘INDIA chairperson’, Nitish ‘withdraws’ from convener race citing ‘lack of consensus’

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