JD(U)-BJP alliance on the edge; Nitish calls for parliamentary meeting today
NEW DELHI: As the possibility of a split in the BJP-JD(U) alliance seems ‘imminent’, there is a new twist in the ongoing high-voltage political drama in Bihar. According to sources, the ball is now in the court of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed his ‘displeasure’ to the PM over the BJP’s bid to overshadow JD(U)’s role in policy matters of the state government and the intervention of PM Modi may help in keeping the alliance intact.
According to a senior JD(U) leader, who did not wish to be named, among several other issues like portraying the state as a terror haven by the BJP, removal of Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, mudslinging of the Kumar-led government by BJP leaders, including state BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal, the differences between BJP-JDU widened after BJP ‘picked’ RCP Singh for a Union Cabinet berth without the consent of the Bihar CM.
“The Bihar CM had expressed his displeasure to Union Home minister Amit Shah and other senior party functionaries about the criticism of the JDU-led government by the state BJP leaders. However, no concrete action was taken by the top leadership and BJP leaders continued to malign the image of Kumar over one issue or the other, including shutting down schools on Friday in minority-dominated areas, which further tensed the situation,” the leader added.
“Now, the fate of the NDA alliance is in the court of PM Modi. If he intervenes in keeping the house in order, the alliance would complete its full term, else
JD(U) would consider other available options,” the party leader said, adding that the BJP top leadership is trying to remote-control the Nitish government, which is not acceptable.
Amid the buzz of a conflict with its partner, Nitish has called a parliamentary meeting of all its MPs, MLAs and MLCs on Tuesday. Apart from it, the Bihar CM has also sought time to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
At JD(U)’s proposed meeting, party’s national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh, alias Lalan Singh, said that the party’s meeting has been called by Nitish to discuss the situation following RCP Singh’s exit from the party.
As per sources, the major bone of contention is the intervention of the BJP top leadership in the selection of BJP ministers in the Bihar
Cabinet, which was not the situation during the previous terms.
Meanwhile, the RJD, which is the largest single party in the state Assembly, has also started mulling options to form the government in alliance with the JD(U). Sources in the RJD have claimed that its face Tejashwi Yadav, who was adamant about becoming the CM, has agreed to be the deputy of Kumar on the condition of keeping the Home portfolio with him.
However, the RJD has also directed all its 79 MLAs to be in Patna by Monday night to attend Tuesday’s meeting called by Tejashwi Yadav. Bihar Congress has also asked its MLAs and MLCs to remain present at Patna.
As a damage control measure, Union minister Nityanand Rai, Bihar’s Industries minister Shahnawaz Hussain and Ravi Shankar Prasad have reached Delhi to brief the central leadership about the political developments.
a criminal conspiracy and cheated MoC, Government of India by dishonestly and fraudulently inducing the MoC to allocate ‘Lohara East Coal Block’ in favour of GIL on the basis of false information about net worth, capacity, equipments and status of procurement and installation of plant.
The CBI also stated that the company, in its application, claimed its net worth as Rs 120 crore whereas its own net worth was only Rs 3.3 crore, and that the company also falsified its existing capacity as 1,20,000 TPA against 30,000 TPA.
The Supreme Court had on August 25, 2014 cancelled the entire allocations of coal blocks. This is the 11th conviction in coal scam cases secured by prosecution.