Bihar crisis: RJD-Congress in confusion on joining Nitish Kumar's government
Patna: With JD (U) strongman Nitish Kumar all set to take oath as the next chief minister of Bihar on Sunday evening, coalition partners RJD, Congress, CPI are yet to take decision whether they would be joining him in the government or not.
According to RJD leaders, the party high command has not yet said anything in this regard; they however indicated that RJD would be taking part in all the major decisions as they too played an important role in rescuing JD (U) from a major political crisis.
“Since our party president Lalu Yadav played an important role in rescuing Nitish Kumar and his party JD (U) from a major crisis I strongly feel that Nitish Kumar must consult him before taking any major decision”, senior RJD leader Bhai Birendra said on Saturday.
Adding further RJD legislative party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui said, “For us Party is important. As far as our party joining the cabinet of Nitish Kumar is concerned, our party President has not yet said anything about it”.
The JD (U) sources said that Nitish Kumar may face trouble in deciding cabinet ministers as Lalu Yadav doesn't like several legislators who are considered close to Nitish Kumar. “Everything will be further decided by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav, they will be deciding what will happen and who will join the cabinet”, JD (U) leader Shrawan Kumar said.
Meanwhile, a luncheon meeting was arranged on Saturday afternoon by Nitish Kumar in order to discuss the future strategies. The state president of the JD (U) who was also present in the meeting later said that the party decided to hold workers meet on 1 March in the state capital. The party leaders expecting heavy turnout, said that it would help the party send strong signals of their strength to the saffron camp. The decision, they said, was taken keeping the upcoming assembly polls in consideration.
“We expect huge turnout on that day as party workers are jubilant after Nitish Kumar accepted to take over as the chief minister of Bihar, the workers have been demanding his return and the news of his taking oath have energized them”, state JD (U) president Basisth Narayan Singh said.
Taking a dig at JD (U) decision to hold workers meet in the state capital, the BJP said, “We will expose the leaders of JD (U) in front of the voters and tell them how a mahadalit was mistreated by them in order to satisfy their lust for power”, BJP senior leader Nand Kishore Yadav said in Patna on Saturday.
