BJP to hold meeting in Patna tomorrow to chalk out strategy amid reports of Nitish Kumar joining NDA

Patna: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will hold a meeting with its MLAs and MPs in Patna to chalk out its strategy over the latest political situation in Bihar amid speculations that former ally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, might pull his party out from the ruling grand alliance in the state. The meeting, scheduled for Sunday will take place at 9 am.
Leaders of the BJP in Bihar gathered here on Saturday also to discuss the political situation in the state which was attended by several MLAs, MPs and senior leaders. The BJP has the largest number of 17 MPs in Bihar, where the total number of Lok Sabha members is 40. The JD(U), headed by Kumar, has 16 while another NDA ally LJP, now split up between the uncle-nephew duo of Pashupati Kumar Paras and Chirag Paswan, has six. In the Bihar Assembly of 243, the RJD has 79 MLAs; followed by the BJP's 78; the JD(U)'s 45' the Congress's 19, the CPI (M-L)'s 12, two each of the CPI(M) and CPI, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)'s four seats, and the AIMIM's one, plus one Independent legislator. The ruling JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar is on the brink of collapse, as there is a likelihood that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could cross over to the NDA again, the alliance he parted his ways in 2022 to form the 'mahagathbandhan'. If Nitish crosses over, this would be the fourth time he would be switching sides. An NDA ally since the 1990s, Kumar had quit the coalition in August 2022, suspecting the BJP of trying to engineer a split in the JD(U), and having conspired to bring down his party's tally in the 2020 assembly polls. In 2000, Nitish became CM for the first time after campaigning against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav's 'Jungle Raaj'. Till now, he has been Bihar's CM on eight occasions. In 2013, Nitish broke ranks with the NDA after a 17-year alliance following the announcement of Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. He expressed his displeasure to the BJP over Modi's selection as the PM face, and after the BJP decided not to change its decision, Kumar left the alliance. In 2017, Nitish forged a grand alliance with the RJD and Congress and returned as chief minister in 2015.
He walked out of the grand alliance in 2017, accusing the RJD of corruption and choking governance in the state. In 2022, Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the BJP once again, alleging the BJP was conspiring against him and trying to influence JD-U MLAs to rebel against him.
However, Bihar BJP chief Samrat Choudhary set it aside, stating that the party's high command has 'no clue' about it. "Neither has Nitish Kumarji resigned nor has anybody withdrawn support. Only if something happens, then we will have any information. At present, the BJP wants to assess the situation of Bihar and then, we will make a decision accordingly," Chaudhary said while speaking to reporters in Bihar's Patna.
"We will get informed only if Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives information regarding the same," he added.