New Delhi: Three days after the results of the Bihar Assembly Election 2020 were out with the victory of the NDA, Nitish Kumar on Friday said that the newly elected NDA MLAs will meet on Sunday to decide the next CM of the state.
“On Nov 15, at 12:30 PM all the NDA MLAs will hold a joint meeting, all decisions will be notified. What is decided will be informed to you all”, Nitish Kumar said earlier in the day after NDA’s meeting at his residence.
Despite the BJP emerging as the largest party in the ruling alliance with 74 seats, 31 more than the JD(U), the top leadership of the saffron party, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has emphatically endorsed Kumar as the next chief minister.
Nitish as chief ministerial candidate
Notably, Kumar was declared the ruling coalition’s chief ministerial candidate much before the election process had started.
However, Kumar on Thursday, had said that he has not made any claim to form the government in the state or to become the next chief minister.
Nitish resigns from CM’s post
Amid these developments, Kumar earlier in the day resigned from the post of chief minister and handed over the letter of resignation to Governor Phagu Chauhan. He also submitted the letter of recommendation to dissolve the state assembly.
On the other hand, the governor accepted his resignation and asked Kumar to continue as the caretaker chief minister till the new NDA government is sworn in.
Speculation over deputy CM
Speculation is rife that the BJP might push for an EBC or a Dalit as a Deputy CM though it was not clear whether the insistence was on replacing veteran leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who has been holding the post for the most part since 2005, or replicating the experiment in adjoining Uttar Pradesh where two leaders share the post.
One of the names doing the rounds for the Deputy CM’s post is that of Kameshwar Chaupal, a Dalit with deep roots in the Sangh who was famously chosen for laying the foundation stone at the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya in the 1990s.
Supporters of Chaupal, a member of the legislative council, lent credence to speculations as they were noticed chanting slogans to the effect on the streets of the city.
Meanwhile, the NDA which has three more MLAs than the magic figure of 122, received a shot in the arm when Independent legislator from Chakai Sumit Singh met the chief minister and extended support.
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