Published 08:55 IST, January 18th 2021
BJP wants Nitish's home ministry? Congress asks Bihar CM To rejoin MGB, Tejashwi dismisses
Congress Legislature Party leader Ajeet Sharma said, "The Grand Alliance is Nitish Kumar's old home. He will be able to freely if he chooses to return"
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As CM Nitish Kumar is facing the heat of both Opposition and alliance partner BJP due to the murder of Indigo's manager Rupesh Singh in broad-daylight in Patna, the Congress has now made an offer to him to rejoin the Mahagathbandhan. Opining that the Bihar Chief Minister is working under "a lot of pressure" in the BJP-led NDA, Congress said that he must rethink about quitting NDA in order to work "freely" for the development of Bihar. However, RJD was quick to dismiss the statement by Congress as "not official stance of Grand alliance."
Congress Legislature Party leader Ajeet Sharma while referring to the incident wherein Nitish lost his calm recently and said, "Nitish Kumar is never known for such behaviour. We all know that. He is obviously under a lot of pressure in the NDA. It is well-known that he is under pressure to give up the all-important Home portfolio, which he has been keeping." Ajeet Sharma, who represents Bhagalpur in the assembly, added, "The Grand Alliance is Nitish Kumar's old home. He will be able to freely work for the state's progress if he chooses to return".
Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD's heir apparent and leader of the opposition coalition, however, rejected Ajeet Sharma's remark when asked about the same at Saran, where he went to meet bereaved family members of Indigo's manager. "This is not an official statement (of the Congress)," said Tejashwi Yadav. He said, "It is my request to the Chief Minister with folded hands please act and do not let people of your state die like insects. I understand you are a weak Chief Minister." Yadav also threatened to stage a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan along with opposition legislators "if law and order situation does not improve in a month".
BJP-JDU power tussle
The 2020 Bihar Assembly election witnessed a voter turnout of 57.05 per cent as against that of 56.66 per cent in the 2015 polls. The polls turned out to be a nail-biting contest with NDA emerging victorious in 125 seats as against that of 110 seats won by the Mahagatbandhan. BJP, RJD, JD(U), Congress won 74, 75, 43, and 19 seats respectively. BJP winning more seats than JD(U) for the first time in a Bihar Assembly election led to the speculation that JD(U)'s clout in the alliance will reduce. LJP is believed to have damaged JD(U)'s prospects in 32 seats despite bagging a solitary seat. While Kumar again took oath as the CM of Bihar, BJP has two Deputy CMs in 4-time MLAs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi.
Moreover, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's cabinet expansion is in limbo with each party wanting more berths for themselves. Amid this, Nitish said that he is unaware of who is his friend and who are the enemies in politics. In what seemed an indirect attack at the BJP, Kumar said that the seat distribution within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the recently concluded assembly elections should have been done five months prior to the poll. CM Nitish added that it is because of the delay that his Janata Dal (United) suffered a blow. He also said that false propaganda was spread against JDU, in a dig at LJP's Chirag Paswan, who contested the polls against Nitish but with PM Narendra Modi.
08:55 IST, January 18th 2021