Bihar Political Crisis: Deal Finalised? RJD Leader Tejashwi Yadav Demands For Home Ministry Post From Nitish

Bihar political crisis: RJD has indicated that it is open to alliance with Nitish’s party, however, the final say will be taken after the meeting. According to reports,  Tejashwi Yadav has demanded Home Ministry and Speaker’s position for his party.

Bihar Political Crisis: Amid turbulence in the ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is set to meet Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan at 4 pm. Leaders of JD(U), RJD and BJP gathered at separate meetings in Patna amid the political crisis in the state. Nitish is likely to quit the NDA alliance and form a coalition with former ally RJD. RJD has indicated that it is open to alliance with Nitish’s party, however, the final say will be taken after the meeting. According to reports,  Tejashwi Yadav is demanding Home Ministry and post of a deputy chief minister along with a Speaker’s position for his party.

Leaders from the Nitish Kumar-led party said that the recently-held meeting was nothing out of the ordinary. “Our party had held many such meetings of MPs and MLAs in the past. We have been told that the current meeting has been called to discuss organisational matters. Never heard about any major crisis in the NDA,” Rajya Sabha MP Ram Nath Thakur told PTI.

It is to be noted that Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal (United) who left the NDA in 32014 had contested the Bihar Assembly Election in 2015 with Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) under the banner of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance).

JDU-BJP rift

The alliance started with the 2020 Bihar Assembly election in which NDA emerged victorious in 125 seats as against the 110 seats won by the Mahagatbandhan. BJP, RJD, JDU, and Congress won 74, 75, 43, and 19 seats respectively. LJP is believed to have damaged JDU’s prospects in 32 seats despite bagging a solitary seat. As BJP won more seats than JDU for the first time in a Bihar Assembly election, it was perceived that JDU’s clout in the alliance diminished.

The friction between Nitish Kumar’s party and BJP increased after corruption allegations against former Union Minister RCP Singh, who resigned from the party after a showcause notice was issued to him. After announcing his resignation from JD(U) on Sunday, Singh dubbed the party a ‘sinking ship’.