NDA's ally and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar broke off ties with BJP once again to form an alliance with his political opponent Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal
On Tuesday morning, Nitish called a meeting of all elected representatives of the JD(U) and said he pre-empted a conspiracy by the BJP to break his party
The party announced that it will stage massive protests (mahadharnas) against betrayal by the JD(U) leader across all districts on Wednesday which will be followed by agitations at block level
The 71-year-old Kumar, who became chief minister for a record eighth time, had started out as an engineer in Bihar Electricity Board to join politics under aegis of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia
Nitish Kumar, who dumped the BJP-led NDA earlier on Tuesday, will be taking oath as Bihar CM for the eighth time
Besides the four ministerial berths, the Congress has also sought the post of Speaker of the state assembly, but Kumar is not keen on giving that, sources said.
He further said JD(U) was looking for an excuse to break ties with BJP, and underlined that "BJP will come back to power with a thumping majority in 2024."
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Nitish Kumar's decision to resign as the CM comes after speculations were rife about his party's alliance with BJP
BJP leaders noted that he had snapped ties with the RJD in 2017 over allegations of corruption against its leader Tejashwi Yadav and asked how he will justify the alliance with the party again.
He also came out in support of BJP amid the political turmoil in Bihar and said the saffron party had accepted everything that Kumar wanted as chief minister and even compromised on its own policies
We are not making any claim today, but he has all the qualities of a prime minister, Upendra Kushwaha, president of the Janata Dal (U) National Parliamentary Board said in Patna.
Relations between the BJP and the JD(U) have been worsening for quite some time in the wake of disagreements over a host of issues including caste census, the 'Agnipath' defence recruitment scheme
India's fuel demand in July rose 6.1% year-on-year, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry showed on Monday.
Even until Monday, some senior BJP leaders, including those from Bihar, were of the view that the JD(U) leader was engaging in brinkmanship to pressure his bigger partner to be more accommodative
Leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav is likely to visit the CM's residence to hand over the letter of support any time
A day after he tested positive for C-19, Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha said his test reports have come out negative, amid a brewing political storm in the state, where he will play key role
Parallel meetings of the JD(U) which helms the Bihar government, and the opposition RJD are on here Tuesday amid speculations of a major political move by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
Members of both houses of Parliament and state legislature, belonging to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), converged to attend a meeting at his official residence
Congress, Left too indicated on Monday that they would support such a move, intensifying speculation which has been rife for some time that a final break between Kumar's JD(U) and BJP is imminent