A Day’s Gamble: Nitish Kumar Takes Oath as Bihar CM again, Sushil Modi as Deputy CM
Wednesday’s top events witnessed Nitish Kumar resigning from the post of Bihar Chief Minister out of a prevailing tension with its allies Lalu Yadav. The resignation came a week after Central Bureau of Investiagtion registered a case of corruption against RJD chief Lalu Yadav, His wife and political leader Rabri Devi, son and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, and former Indian Railway catering and Tourism Corporate (IRCTC) Managing Director P.K. Goyal. The issue was about giving the tender for development and maintenance of hotels in Ranchi and Puri in the year 2006.
However, Lalu Yadav had rejected the allegations earlier as well. He claimed that the complaints and allegations were ‘politically motivated’. He also said that lodging a mere FIR is no reason why his son Tejashwi Yadav should resign from the post of Deputy Chief Minister of the state.
Amid all the political crisis, Nitish Kumar has taken oath again as the Bihar Chief Minister on Thursday morning, just 14 hours after he resigned from the position on Wednesday. The BJP and JDU were a part of the late night meeting held in the state after the resignation of Nitish Kumar as the CM. The governor of Bihar Keshri Nath Tripathi was also a part of the alliance meet.
BJP member Sushil Modi has also sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state of Bihar.
Nitish Kumar’s party Janata Dal United has 71 administrators in the 243-seat Bihar assembly. With the help of the BJP’s 53, he will have 124, right over the half seats he needs to frame the government in the state. They have the support of 132 legislators in total.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Mr. Nitish Kumar on Twitter, which read, “Many many congratulation to Nitish Kumarji for joining the fight against corruption. Over hundred million citizens are welcoming and supporting the honesty.”
However, the re-alliance of BJP and JDU has caused a stir in JDU’s former ally RJD. Tejashwi Yadav expressed his disagreement in front of Bihar Governor Tripathi on JDU being given the chance to form the government inspite of RJD being the single party in the state. He also went on a protest march in the state on Thursday morning. However, his party would not get the majority in the state even after its alliance with the Congress.
RJD and JDU had always had an uncomfortable alliance. Nitish Kumar was noticed supporting the ruling party BJP on issues like demonetization and Goods and Services Tax (GST) Reform, which gives an insight into his willingness to switch sides and get back with BJP. There are speculations that the corruption charges against Lalu and his family must have triggered the move and cleared Kumar’s path to exit from the alliance.
