Nitish Kumar Resigns As Bihar CM And Stakes Claim For The Formation Of A New Government

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has submitted his resignation to Governor Phagu Chauhan and his resignation has been accepted. Kumar has claimed the support of 160 MLAs and staked claim for the formation of a new government.

Bihar MLC from JD(U), Upendra Kushwaha had congratulated Kumar for the new government on Twitter at 2pm only saying, "Congratulations Nitish Kumar for a new alliance in a new form. The country is waiting for you."

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as it appears, couldn't do much to save the government. The party held a meeting at the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad in Patna in the afternoon, where prominent leaders like Bhikhubhai Dalsaniya, Renu Devi, Mangal Pandey, Nitin Navin, Amrendra Pratap Singh and Samrat Chaudhary were present.

This was after JD(U) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) held their separate parallel meetings. Post the RJD meeting, MLAs of left parties and Congress also arrived at Lalu Prasad Yadav's residence in Patna for a Mahagathbandhan meeting.

ANI reported that Mahagathbandhan leaders authorised Tejashwi Yadav to take a decision and said that they are with him after the meeting. Similarly, in the JD(U) meeting, all MLAs and MPs of the party supported CM Nitish Kumar's decision and said that they are with him.

On the other hand, BJP was reiterating its support for Kumar to continue as the CM. "BJP would want that the Govt of JD(U), BJP and other parties, under the Chief Ministership of Nitish Kumar, continue to work strongly and this is in the interest of Bihar as well as the nation," Union Minister Kaushal Kishore said.

He also claimed that BJP never initiated anything that may stir up a controversy or create a situation of uncertainty. He left it to the JD(U) to make a decision but assured that "the BJP definitely wants Nitish Kumar to continue as CM."

However, post the BJP meet, there were rumours that BJP ministers may submit their resignations. A BJP minister on the condition of anonymity told ANI that they are waiting for Nitish Kumar to make the first move, then they will take a step, discarding any resignation proceedings.

For months now, BJP and JD(U) were not seeing eye-to-eye on several issues. From the Agnipath scheme to banning PFI, the two parties have disagreed on some crucial issues.

Recently, a former union minister and a close aide of Kumar, RCP Singh, resigned after his own party levelled charges against him for “amassing” wealth, further fueling the rift between the two parties as he was being seen as getting close to the BJP.

However, it should be noted that BJP reportedly did not try to break away JD(U) MLAs, for what it is often accused of. It is said that BJP is on a 'wait and watch strategy.'

On the other hand, some social media users were seen speculating that RCP Singh will play the same role that Eknath Shinde played for BJP in Maharashtra. While that seems a distant possibility, as of now, the ball is in Nitish Kumar's court.

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