Amid talks of 'split' with BJP, Nitish Kumar cozies up with RJD, Congress; calls party meeting tomorrow - Seven Updates

Amid tensions with ally BJP scaling up, speculations are rife that Nitish-Kumar-led JD(U) is planning a ‘split’ with the former in Bihar. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called a meeting of all JD(U) MPs and MLAs on Tuesday and has asked them to be present in Patna by Monday evening.

Several media reports have claimed that the JD(U) is planning to form an alternative government along with Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD, the Left Front and the Congress.      

Here are the top updates on the big story: 

While Kumar has called a party meeting on Tuesday, there are rumours that the opposition RJD has commanded its MLAs to remain in Patna for “the next few days” triggering speculations in a section of the media here that the state set to witness a momentous political development. The RJD is also said to have a called a meeting of its MLAs on Tuesday. 

JD(U) sources said all its 45 legislators would meet on Tuesday at the CM’s residence. The RJD has also directed all its 79 MLAs to be in Patna by Monday night, to be able to attend Tuesday’s meeting called by Tejashwi Yadav.     

News18 quoted sources saying that Kumar has sought time to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi amid speculations that the JD(U) might be considering to stitch an alliance with the 'Mahagathbandhan'. Kumar reportedly spoke to Gandhi over phone and discussed the political developments in the state. 

The development comes a day after Kumar skipped the NITI Aayog General Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi citing post-COVID debility, but attended a couple of events in Patna. Later in the day, his party put the BJP on notice, blaming it for the party's increasingly fractious alliance. It also alleged "two conspiracies" by the BJP against Kumar, referring to Chirag Paswan and RCP Singh. 

“Two conspiracies were hatched against Nitish Kumar in recent times — one the Chirag model of 2020, which was responsible for bringing down our Assembly seats to 43. Another had been in the making and was nipped in the bud,” said JD(U) national president Rajiv ranjan Singh, a.k.a Lalan Singh.

News18 quoted a JD(U) MLA saying that there will be a big blow in Bihar following the party’s meeting on Tuesday. Gopal Mandal, MLA from Gopalpur in Bhagalpur said that there will be a major jolt after tomorrow’s meeting.

Kumar is said to be upset with the BJP-led central government’s offer of token representation to allies as Union ministers. Kumar's party had denied another Rajya Sabha berth last month to his former JD(U) colleague RCP Singh, who had taken a spot in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet last year without consulting Mr Kumar. Singh quit the party on Sunday following his long run-in with Kumar.