Nitish Kumar Hits Out At Mahagathbandhan Leaders; Know Why

Patna: July 11: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is increasingly becoming apprehensive about leaders of the Mahagathbandhan alliance in the State cosying up to BJP in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.

The CM is reported to have lost his cool more than once while interacting with the leaders in the State Assembly in the ongoing Monsoon Session. A report in The Print said he is also miffed with one of its own party leaders as he is understood to have reached out to the BJP for a Lok Sabha ticket.

The Print reported that recently the CM got irked with RJD Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Sunil Kumar Singh at a meeting of the Mahagathbandhan leaders. The CM alleged at the meeting that Singh was in touch with the BJP leaders. “He also alleged that I am ignoring his calls when the fact is that I have never received a call from Nitish Kumar,” The Print quoted Singh as saying.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav had to finally intervene, saying that he will look into the matter.

Singh said the CM’s apprehension could have germinated from a photograph where he is seen with Home Minister Amit Shah at the All-India meeting of cooperative bodies in New Delhi recently. “But that does not mean that I am reaching out to BJP,” he said. Shah is also the Union Minister of Cooperation.

Bihar’s ruling Mahagathbandhan is a coalition of the JD(U), the RJD, the Congress and other parties.

According to Singh, Nitish has also hit out at own party MLA and Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari and Congress MLA Ajit Sharma at the meeting, levelling the same charges against them as well.

The alleged outburst of the CM comes against the background of various reports suggesting that the BJP has reached out to MLAs in the alliance to jump ship and content the next election from the BJP ticket. Some reports have also claimed that Nitish himself is wary of saving his CM post in the event of defection in his party.