Nitish Kumar has called a meeting of all Janata Dal (United) MLAs and MPs on Tuesday.
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The Nitish Kumar-led JDU is planning to form an alternative government along with the Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Left Front, and Congress, sources said. The new alliance is being stitched together as most MLAs don't want mid-term elections, they added.
JDU has accused the BJP of trying to break the party, with former party President RCP Singh's apparent proximity to BJP being the last straw. On Sunday, the party went public and attacked the BJP. JDU National President Rajiv Ranjan, without naming the BJP, accused it of hatching a conspiracy, and threatened to "expose" them "at an appropriate time".
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called a meeting of all Janata Dal (United) MLAs and MPs on Tuesday, leading to speculation his growing friction with the BJP may come to a head.
Sources close to Nitish say he's upset about the way he was being attacked by Bihar BJP leaders while the central party leadership looked the other way. He also wants the Bihar assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha removed. The Chief Minister had lost his temper more than once at Mr Sinha, who Mr Kumar has accused of openly violating the Constitution by raising questions against his government.
Mr Kumar is also upset with the alliance partner over the BJP-led central government's offer of token representation to allies as Union Ministers.
Mr Kumar's party had denied another Rajya Sabha berth last month to RCP Singh, who had allegedly taken a spot in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet last year without consulting Mr Kumar. Mr Singh quit the party following questions from the party over properties linked to his family.
"There's a conspiracy against me because I'd become union minister," said Mr Singh, a former Indian Administrative Service officer who was once the national president of JD(U). "I'll just say that there's no cure to jealousy," he said while leaving the JD(U) yesterday. "Nitish Kumar will not become Prime Minister in any of his seven lives," he said, describing the JD(U) as a sinking ship.
Mr Kumar reacted by sending out his party's top leaders to respond to allegations by Mr Singh of pettiness and for allegedly dragging his family into a political fight citing illegal property deals.
The JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh in a hurry to blunt the attacks by Mr Singh, however, appeared to have overcorrected when he ended up threatening the alliance party BJP.
"What is the need to join the Union Cabinet? The Chief Minister had decided in 2019 we won't be part of the Union Cabinet," Rajiv Ranjan told reporters. He said the JD(U) won't join the Union Cabinet in the near future too, leading to speculation of a rift that can't be mended.
