 "Nitish Kumar")
Fanned by the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies, the events in Mumbai triggered speculation in Patna that a similar fate awaited Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's party, the Janata Dal (United). On Friday, Kumar met legislators of his party individually. He is also in the process of meeting his party’s Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs. JD(U) leaders said the meetings were to prepare for the forthcoming Bihar Assembly session and the monsoon session of Parliament.
However, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi said Kumar was nervous as the JD(U) would soon disintegrate. Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal leader Upendra Kushwaha, who was earlier in the JD(U), claimed the JDU was on the cusp of merging with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and several JD (U) leaders had reached out to him and the BJP.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 39 of Bihar’s 40 seats, with the BJP winning 17, JD(U) 16 and Lok Janshakti Party 6. In 2022, the JD(U) parted ways with the NDA, forming the ‘grand alliance’ government. However, it is unlikely that the JD(U) would get to contest on 16 seats in the 2024 elections as part of the six-party ‘grand alliance’, which includes the RJD, Congress and three Left parties, making its sitting MPs uncertain of their political future.
JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi said development in Maharashtra was the result of the fear within the BJP because of Kumar’s opposition unity efforts and that it would have “no impact nationally”.
