Nitish Kumar dumps RJD and Congress, to form government again with BJP today

By Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo

nNEW DELHI (INDIA): On Thursday, Nitish Kumar will be sworn-in again as new Chief Minister  of Bihar with support of BJP again, after he resigned and dumped his Mahagatbandhan allies Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress.nnOn the other hand, Tejashwi Yadav said that RJD will stake claim to form government in Bihar.nnKumar will take oath with at least 27 ministers at a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.nnBJP sources also said Union Minister J.P. Nadda and BJP General Secretary Anil Jain will visit Patna on Thursday as observers to attend the BJP legislature party meeting.nnKumar, whose resignation was immediately accepted by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, is expected to stake claim to form the new government on Thursday in which Sushil Kumar Modi is likely to return as Deputy Chief Minister.nnNDA and JD-U will have 14 ministers each in the new government.nnIn the 243-member assembly, the RJD has 80 MLAs, the JD-U 71 and Congress 27. The BJP has 53 MLAs and its allies LJP 2, RLSP 2 and HAM 1. There are four independents and four MLAs belong to the CPI-ML.nnFour years ago,  JD(U) President Kumar had announced the split of its 17-year-old ties with the BJP in Bihar and walked out of the  National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the appointment of Narendra Modi as the BJP?s prime ministerial candidate for 2016 Lok Sabha Elections