Nitish Kumar is Chief Minister of Bihar, to meet tomorrow for trust vote in assembly;may get few Congress MLAs support

PATNA (INDIA): Nitish Kumar once again took over as chief minister of Bihar with BJP’s support today, leaving the opposition grand alliance in tatters and raising questions over its ability to counter the saffron party in the 2019 general elections.nnA little more than 12 hours after Kumar, 66, resigned to break ranks with his allies — Lalu Yadav’s RJD party and the Congress — he was back in office after being sworn in by Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at the Raj Bhawan.nnSenior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi was also sworn in, and will be the deputy chief minister.nnThe deft political manoeuvres by Janata Dal (United) chief Kumar left the opposition stunned as he joined hands with friend-turned-foe-turned-friend BJP. The two parties were in alliance until 2013, when Kumar walked out of the NDA fold after Narendra Modi became the prime ministerial candidate.nnHowever, Kumar, who was seen by the opposition as a possible answer to Modi in 2019 amid shrinking Congress clout, seems to have accepted the popular thinking that the Modi-wave will continue even after two years.nnThe governor has asked Kumar to prove his majority on the floor of the House tomorrow.nnFor this, Bihar Assembly to meet at 11 am tomorrow for the trust vote by Chief Minister Kumar.nn”Whatever decision we have taken will be in the interest of Bihar and of its people. It will ensure development and justice,” Kumar told reporters after the swearing-in.nn”This is a collective decision. I ensure that our commitment is towards the people of Bihar,” he said.nnUnion Health minister J P Nadda and BJP leader Anil Jain were present at the brief ceremony where only Kumar and Sushil Modi were sworn in.nnImmediately after the swearing-in, the JD(U) announced that it will support the BJP-led NDA government in both the houses of Parliament.nnThe swearing-in capped breathtaking political developments in the state with Kumar quitting his post last night following a fall out with RJD over corruption charges against Lalu Prasad and his family members. Chief among them is Prasad’s son, Tejashwi Yadav, who was the deputy chief minsiter in the outgoing government.nnYadav had refused to step down after the CBI filed corruption charges against him and had also ignored Kumar’s advice to explain his conduct. Kumar cited this as the reason to resign and join BJP to become the chief minister for the sixth time.nnThe sharp reactions from the opposition were predictable.nn”He (Nitish) had joined hands with us in the anti- communal fight, but Nitish Kumar, for his personal politics, joined hands with those against whom he had fought,” said Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.nn”People do anything for their selfish motives. There is no principle, no credibility. They can do anything for power,” he said.nnModi congratulated Kumar and said he looked forward to working together for Bihar’s prosperity.nnNobody from the RJD or the Congress attended the swearing-in ceremony protesting the “denial of chance” to the RJD, the single-largest party in the state assembly, to form government.nnAfter taking oath, Sushil Modi said the development process will be back on track in the state with return of the NDA.nn”The JD(U)-BJP alliance had earlier taken Bihar to new heights. At that point of time, the people of the state used to take pride in saying ‘I am a Bihari’. But in the last 20 months something went wrong. But now the JD(U)-BJP alliance will again take Bihar to newer heights,”nnOn RJD’s claims that it has the numbers, JD(U) national spokesperson K C Tyagi said, “They should stop making tall claims and if they really have the numbers, let them prove it in the floor test. We have our numbers and we will prove it.”nnThe NDA alliance had submitted a list of 132 MLAs yesterday to the Governor. These include 71 of JD(U), BJP 53, RLSP two, LJP two, HAM one and three independents.nnIn the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the RJD has 80 MLAs, the Congress 27 and the CPI-ML has three.nnTyagi said the decision of his party to form the grand alliance government in Bihar was “a mistake” and ruled out any possibility of a patch-up with the RJD.nn”It was a mistake to forge an alliance with RJD. We had information that to save themselves from CBI cases, they were in touch with the union ministers in Delhi and were planning to topple the Nitish Kumar government”, Tyagi said.nn”We regret our decision to run the government with such a person (Lalu Prasad) for 20 months. We blame ourselves for committing a mistake of taking their MLA count from 22 to 80,” he said.nnFormer Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi welcomed Kumar’s decision to join the NDA.nn”I congratulate Nitish Kumarji for his decision to join the NDA. If someone commits a mistake and has the guts to accept and rectify it, we should also welcome it and support that person,” Manjhi said.nnTejashwi Yadav, who led a protest march to the Raj Bhawan after midnight, told reporters that the swearing-in of NDA government was a “pre-planned conspiracy.”nn”My performance perturbed our ally and BJP. Vendetta against me exposes their viciousness”, Yadav said in a tweet today.nnCongress leader waited 3 days to meet Rahul Gandhinn”After being pink-slipped along with Lalu Yadav, the Congress branch in Bihar is awash in resentment – not just towards Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who laid off his allies last night, but also for party boss Rahul Gandhi, who was assigned to keep the government in Bihar from sinking,” reported by NDTV.nnGandhi, 47, did not deliver. And along with the result, his party’s legislators in Bihar are reportedly giving him an F for Effort. Sources who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation said that Mr Gandhi displayed an arrogance and disregard for the counsel of his leaders from Bihar – a charge levelled against him in the past in states like Assam where the Congress lost its governments. In this case, said sources, the Congress’ senior-most leader in Bihar, Ashok Choudhary, was kept waiting for three days before Mr Gandhi made the time to see him in Delhi earlier this week.nnSpeaking to reporters today, Choudhary said, “Our flock remains together”. Of the now-defunct government in which he was Education Minister, he said, “Nitish should not have left us.”nnAfter the meeting between the Chief Minister and the Congress boss, Ashok Choudhary travelled to Delhi to meet with Gandhi. It was only after 72 hours – despite the full-blown crisis – that he was able to meet with Rahul Gandhi and CP Joshi, who is assigned to handle Bihar for the Congress.nnWith PTI inputs