BJP calls for Bihar shutdown tomorrow, protesting against snapping of 17-year old ties by JD(U)

The Bihar unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reacted strongly to JD(U)'s decision to part ways and has called for a shutdown across the state on June 18.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi, who was the deputy chief minister in the Nitish government said that they would observe Betrayal Day on Tuesday by observing a state wide shutdown.

Demanding the resignation of Nitish Kumar, Modi said that the Chief Minister should seek a fresh mandate as JD(U) leader after the separation.

Putting an end to all the speculations, the Janata Dal (United) on Sunday finally announced that there would not be any alliance with the BJP in the Bihar government.

Addressing a press conference here, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav said that the developments in the last six months had made things difficult for them to work together with the BJP.

"We were in the NDA for 17 years and we had a national agenda that was formed with Atalji and Advaniji. We have tried to stick to the framework of the NDA but for the past 6-7 months situation has changed," he said.

"Any alliance runs by friendship and trust - we tried our best to run the alliance," he added

Earlier, Nitish Kumar met Governor D Y Patil following the Cabinet meet called by him, that was skipped by the BJP ministers.

Talking to media after meeting, Kumar said that he had sought fresh vote of confidence to prove his majority in the House, and had requested for a special Assembly session to be convened on June 21.

"We will show we have majority support in the Assembly," said Kumar.

JD (U) has 118 MLAs in 243-member Bihar assembly and needs the support of only four more MLAs to have a majority.

There are 91 MLAS from BJP, 21 from RJD and one each from LJP and CPI in the state assembly.