Nitish's Bombshell for INDIA Bloc Day Before Rahul's 'Nyay Yatra' Enters Bihar, Cong Calls Him 'Chameleon'

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday submitted his resignation to Governor Rajendra V Arlekar amid speculations that he would be returning to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP, in less than two years of the controversial political break-up.

The governor accepted Kumar’s resignation and asked him to continue as caretaker CM till a new government is formed.

Kumar, who was accompanied by senior minister Bijendra Yadav of the JD(U), after the resignation said that he advised the governor to dissolve the Bihar assembly.

Nitish’s exit from the Mahagathbandhan, which consists of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress party, was right on schedule– just a day before Rahul Gandhi’s ambitious ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ is set to enter Bihar.

JD(U)’s sudden political move is highly attributed to the Congress’s failure to unite the regional parties on the seat-sharing arrangement and diverting focus majorly on Rahul Gandhi and his ‘Nyay Yatra.’

Reports suggested that the Janata Dal (United) chief remained ‘non-committal’ about his participation in Congress’s Yatra as he was reportedly upset over delays in seat-sharing talks for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

All’s Not Well in Bihar Congress?

Meanwhile, most Congress leaders in Bihar remained absent from the party’s meeting in Purnia on Saturday to discuss preparations for the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

Only 10 of 19 Bihar Congress MLAs turned up at the meeting amid the ongoing political turmoil in the state with RJD’s fifth possible flip-flop in the last decade.

While Congress legislative party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan tried to play down the absence of the MLAs, this is being seen as an impact of the recent political events in Bihar.

“Only those MLAs given responsibility to oversee the yatra attended the meeting,” Khan told TOI.

Meanwhile, Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge was quick to respond to Nitish Kumar’s expected blow to the Mahagatbandhan as well as the INDIA bloc and said “he knew it would happen.”

“Earlier he and us were fighting together. When I talked to Lalu Ji and Tejashwi, they also said that Nitish is going. If he wanted to stay, he would have stayed but he wants to go. That’s why we already knew this, but to keep the India Alliance intact, if we say something wrong, the wrong message will be sent. This information was already given to us by Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav. Today that came true. There are many people in the country like ‘Aaya Ram-Gaya Ram’, Kharge said.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh played down Nitish Kumar’s exit and said it would have no impact on the outcome of Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra.

“It’s no surprise. Nitish Kumar Ji is an experienced politician. He is known to change his political colour and gives a tough fight to a chameleon. People of Bihar are going to respond to him and people in Delhi are running him,” Ramesh said.

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Bihar

The Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will resume from West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Sunday after a two-day break.

On Monday, it will head to Islampur in Uttar Dinajpur district, before entering Bihar, he added. The Yatra is scheduled to re-enter West Bengal on January 31 via Malda and then after travelling through Murshidabad, it will leave the state on February 1.

Meanwhile, the Congress Party has intensified preparations for Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ in Seemanchal. Congress workers in Kishanganj, Araria and Purnia of Seemanchal held a preparatory meeting as well.

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel said “Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will be successful in Bihar. Seeing Nitish Kumar’s activities, people had doubts that he would do something and he did so. This will not weaken the INDIA bloc. The credibility of Nitish Kumar has now finished.”