Nitish quits NDA, joins hands with RJD to form govt

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar parted ways with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the second time in eight years and resigned as CM on Tuesday, turning the clock back as he joined forces with the opposition alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left parties to stake a claim to form the next government. The swearing-in will take place on Wednesday at 2 pm at Raj Bhavan in Patna where Kumar and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav will take the oath.

"All of our party leaders told me that there have been regular attempts to weaken the JDU under the present alliance and their joint opinion was to quit the NDA. I have met the governor and submitted my resignation," Kumar said.

BJP Refutes Kumar's Allegations

"We have met the governor and submitted a letter of support from 164 MLAs from seven political parties and one independent. It is up to the governor to declare the time for swearing-in. We would like to have the swearing-in as early as possible," he told media persons.

Kumar led the government after the 2020 election as the BJP honoured his pre-poll projection as the NDA's chief ministerial candidate, even as it had won 74 seats in the 243-seat assembly while Kumar's Janata Dal (United) was a distant third with 43 seats.

The RJD was the single largest party with 75 seats.

Reacting to Kumar's move to sever ties with the NDA, which came after a five-hour meeting of JDU MPs and MLAs, the BJP said it was a betrayal of the mandate of the people of Bihar as well as the BJP. "Nitish Kumar has left and said that BJP was trying to destroy his party. BJP made him a Union minister several times. He was also made a CM," senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told media persons in Patna. "Why did he rethink his decision on alliance with RJD in 2015 and come to BJP in 2017? Nitish Kumar is disrespecting the mandate of Bihar's people. It's baseless that BJP was trying to destroy JDU."

Kumar told party leaders in the meeting on Tuesday that there were attempts to weaken the JDU in the NDA since the 2020 assembly election, said people aware of the matter. Without naming Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan, he said during the election efforts were made to defeat the JDU.

JDU president Lalan Singh said in the meeting that regular attempts had been made to humiliate Kumar and the JDU and that the party will not accept humiliation of its leader. Several leaders who spoke in the meeting advocated breaking the alliance with the BJP, said the people cited earlier.

On Tuesday, after submitting his resignation, Kumar went straight to Lalu Prasad's wife and former CM Rabri Devi's house in Patna where MLAs of the mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) were holding a meeting. Along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and leaders of other parties, Kumar came to his residence where he was formally elected as the leader of the grand alliance.

After his claim to form the next government, Kumar spoke to media persons and said he will work for the development and betterment of Bihar. He said he never wanted to be the CM after his party got fewer seats in the 2020 assembly election but the BJP wanted him to assume the post. "I never liked the agenda which BJP was pursuing in recent days. My party leaders kept telling me, but I continued in the alliance. But now I have ended my relations with the NDA," he said.