MUMBAI
Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar will take final call on ending 17-year-old alliance
Sunday is when they head to splitsville. JD(U) president Sharad Yadav and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will part ways with the BJP, ending a 17-year-old alliance, claimed senior JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari on Saturday.
Asked when the decision will be made public, Tiwari said there is no reason why the announcement should not be made on Sunday itself. He said the JD(U) national council has authorised Kumar and Yadav to take a final call on it.
But, Yadav did not close the door on the alliance and said things could still work out.
Senior BJP leader in Bihar and former Union minister CP Thakur told dna that BJP members will meet at 11am on Sunday and BJP ministers in Kumar’s cabinet will submit their resignations to him. Asked if the BJP intended to meet the governor and seek dissolution of the assembly, Thakur said there is no such plan as yet.
Analysing the crisis, a senior BJP leader from Bihar said Kumar is spearheading the ‘split with BJP’ campaign, but many JD(U) MPs and MLAs are not in favour of the idea. He said Yadav, who left for Patna on Saturday, would have to back Kumar because of political compulsions.
The feeling within the BJP is that a split is inevitable because Kumar has crossed the point of no return. Kumar’s decision to precipitate the crisis without any provocation has perplexed the BJP. According to the party, the elevation of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi is not a good enough reason for such a drastic step.
A BJP leader said the JD(U)’s defeat in the Maharajganj Lok Sabha bypoll was not a trigger for the crisis either. He said it should have been a wake-up call for the alliance, instead of a reason to part ways. He was confident that after the split, the BJP will possibly do better than it did with the JD(U).