Nitish Kumar is expected to join the BJP. (File)
Patna:
Nitish Kumar appears to be on the verge of a second political U-turn in less than three years and is likely to return to an alliance with the BJP today. He resigned as Bihar chief minister to initiate the process.
Here are 10 developments on the political crisis in Bihar:
After days of uncertainty, Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal (United) party today quit the struggling opposition alliance and are expected to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 72-year-old met Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar today and resigned as chief minister.
This is his eighth resignation in a political career in which he emerged as a model of good governance before his repeated jumps across the political aisle dented the popularity and electoral clout of his JDU party.
Sources told NDTV that instead of Nitish Kumar's resignation, the BJP has also proposed a reshuffle in the Bihar Cabinet by replacing RJD ministers with its own MPs.
All BJP MPs in Bihar have already given letters of support to Nitish Kumar, sources said. The BJP and the JD(U) have also finalized a seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha election due in three months.
The announcement has left RJD and Congress in turmoil as both parties held several meetings to discuss the action plan after Mr. Kumar's exit. JD(U) was among the top parties in the opposition INDIA bloc seeking to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha polls.
In the 243-member Bihar assembly, the RJD has 79 MLAs; followed by 78 from the BJP; the 45 of the JD(U), the 19 of the Congress, the 12 of the CPI (ML), two each of the CPI(M) and CPI, the four seats of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and one of the AIMIM, plus one independent legislator .
RJD leaders met yesterday at the residence of national vice president and former chief minister Rabri Devi, who shares her government bungalow with Tejashwi Yadav, her son, and husband Lalu Prasad, the party president.
According to sources, Tejashwi Yadav told the party leaders that the game has not started yet in Bihar.
“Whatever was left unfinished in two decades, we have done it within a short span of time – be it jobs, caste census, increasing reservations etc. 'Bihar mein abhi khel hona baki hain' (The game is yet to begin in Bihar),” according to reports said Mr. Yadav.
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