Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wants to stay in the state following a changed political situation.
He called a meeting at his official residence where party senior leader Lalan Singh, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Ashok Chaudhary, and others were present. However, the talking point of the meeting has not come into the public domain so far.
Security at the CM’s residence in Patna has also been tightened. Sources said that he might take a decision any time to go with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Amid a souring political relationship between Nitish Kumar and his ally Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, the former has cancelled his rally at Jharkhand on Thursday, a source in Nitish’s party, the JD-U, said.
Nitish Kumar, under the changed political circumstances, wants to stay in Patna and hence he has cancelled his scheduled rally in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand on February 4. Party leaders in Jharkhand have been directed to prepare for the rally in the last week of February or the first week of March.
Nitish Kumar had scheduled rallies in all divisions of Jharkhand. He has also cancelled all his events in other states too.
Sources said that Nitish Kumar received a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. However, the sources said that it was not for any fresh alliance but to inform him about the Bharat Ratna given to Karpoori Thakur. Nitish Kumar during a rally at the veterinary college ground in Patna on Wednesday said that the Prime Minister has informed the son of Karpoori Thakur Ji and not me about the Bharat Ratna. That is why the PM called him on Thursday morning.
Nitish Kumar is giving indications that the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar is on ventilator and he will break the alliance any time. It is not known if it will take place today or tomorrow or in the next few days but the way relations with the RJD have soured and PM Modi called him, it is more likely that Nitish Kumar will go with the BJP again.
The Bihar CM is also not going to the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Purnea but he has given an indication of going to the rally of PM Narendra Modi in Bettiah. Though, that will be a government event scheduled for February 4.
–IANS