Nitish's JD(U) Dumps Mahagathbandhan in a Major Jolt to INDIA Bloc; to Form Govt with BJP in Bihar

Patna: After a week of speculations and conjecture, Nitish Kumar on Sunday resigned as Mahagathbandhan's chief minister and staked a claim to form a new government with the support of BJP-led NDA on Sunday. Kumar, president of Janata Dal-United (JD-U), ended its alliance with the Mahagathbandhan coalition, a part of the Opposition alliance, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). This is a big jolt to INDIA, which is gearing up to take on BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said it was decided formally by the JD-U in a meeting of party MPs and MLAs held at the official residence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on Sunday morning. Though Kumar had made it clear to top party leaders on Saturday night during a series of meetings that he would resign and join hands with BJP.

Kumar drove to Raj Bhavan to tender his resignation to Governor from where he returned to his residence, stopping for a while to inform the large posse of mediapersons. "It was difficult to run the government with RJD, and my party leaders were advising me to dump it. Now, I have accepted their advice and decided to quit the Mahagathbandhan, resigned as the chief minister."

Kumar was also elected as the leader of the NDA legislature party in a joint meeting of MLAs of JD-U, BJP, and its allies here.

After that, Kumar submitted a list of supporting NDA MLAs, including 45 JD-U MLAs and 78 BJP MLAs, to the Governor and staked claim to form a new government, and is likely to take oath as CM for the ninth time on Sunday evening. Hundreds of NDA workers and supporters gathered outside Raj Bhawan to express their support for the political development, shouting slogans of Modi-Nitish Zindabad. Security around Raj Bhavan has been tightened with additional security forces deployed.

On the other hand, a BJP MLAs’ meeting was held here on Sunday, and they elected Samrat Choudhary as the leader of the BJP legislature party and Vijay Kumar Sinha as the deputy leader. Both of them are likely to take oath as the new Bihar Deputy Chief Ministers along with Kumar as the new CM. "Once again, an NDA government is going to be formed in Bihar to end the terror of Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD (Jungle Raj), and NDA will win all 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in the coming elections," Choudhary claimed.

Kumar's decision was expected amid days of reports of a rift between JD-U and RJD, two major allies of Mahagathbandhan. But what caused Kumar to return to BJP-led NDA again is not very clear. Political watchers say that because he was not made convenor and prime ministerial candidate of the opposition alliance INDIA, he decided to bail on the opposition unity.

Many say that the development is not shocking. Kumar has switched sides based on mere convenience several times in the past, and his “opportunism” has led to his nickname "Paltu-Ram (turncoat)".

He dumped the BJP in August 2022, joined hands with RJD-led Mahagathbandhan and formed the government. This was a repeat of 2013 when Kumar broke ties with the BJP for the first time. Later, Kumar joined hands with RJD, contested and won Bihar Assembly polls in 2015 and formed the government but dumped RJD in July 2017 and returned to the BJP-led NDA.

"No doubt Kumar played an important role in uniting opposition parties and the formation of INDIA to face the challenge of BJP, but when his personal interest and personal ambition were not being fulfilled, he dumped Mahagathbandhan and joined hands with BJP. For Kumar, ideology, principle, and ethics in politics hardly matter. He has proved it time and again in the last decade; he wants to be in power at any cost," said a political commentator, Arun Kumar Srivastav.

A senior JD-U leader told NewsClick that Kumar was “humiliated” by leaders of the opposition alliance INDIA, even though he was the founder of it.

"Kumar has informed party MPs and MLAs about how difficult it is to run the government with Mahagathbandhan. He was left with no option but to end the alliance," said the JD-U leader.

The sprawling offices of the state JD-U and BJP headquarters on the bustling Veerchand Patel Marg in the heart of Patna were crowded with party leaders and workers. They were upbeat about the fresh alliance of JD-U and BJP that formed the recent government in Bihar. Both party leaders and workers were in a celebratory mood, seen distributing sweets and setting off firecrackers.

Meanwhile, the RJD state office, not far away from JD-U and BJP offices wore an unusually deserted look following a jolt to the party.

As per reports, Kumar will continue as the chief minister, and BJP's Choudhary and Sinha will be deputy chief ministers again. The BJP also has demanded the Home portfolio along with the post of Speaker in the state Assembly, and other important departments.

Sources said that RJD chief Lalu and senior leaders of the party will meet here in the evening or tomorrow to discuss the fallout of the political development. The RJD leaders will address the media after that and are likely to target Kumar.

In recent weeks, the uncertainty in the JD-U and RJD relationship had surfaced with the former expressing its discontent with ally RJD in public over several issues. But last week, senior leaders of JD-U and RJD had claimed that there is no trouble facing Bihar's ruling Mahagathbandhan.

But soon, the political situation started changing in Bihar when Kumar, on Jan 24, after a long time, did not utter a word against BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and instead thanked him for conferring the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, posthumously to veteran socialist leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur. He, without taking the name of his ally, Lalu Prasad, also targeted him while speaking of Thakur’s legacy of never promoting his family in politics.

Kumar's words created a buzz in political circles with many speculating if this was a likely move by him to go back to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

This was probably the first time this year and in recent months that Kumar was seen “showing softness” toward the BJP-led central government and Modi.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on last Wednesday said that the BJP- BJP-led central government was forced to award Bharat Ratna to Thakur in view of the Bihar caste survey report. Lalu Prasad also said that RJD repeatedly had called for fulfilling the objectives of Thakur and to take him to New Delhi. "The Bharat Ratna to Thakur is a natural one; he deserved it,” Lalu Prasad said at a party function to celebrate Thakur’s anniversary.