Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, January 7
A statement issued by a former Congress lawmaker signaling a split in the legislature party had stirred the political cauldron in Bihar where Nitish Kumar’s JDU had been heading government despite securing third position in the recently concluded state polls.
Bharat Singh, a former Congress MLA, elected once to the state assembly in 1985 had issued a statement claiming he had specific information that 11 of the MLAs would join the JDU. He also asserted that the state Congress president, Madan Mohan Jha was also joining the JDU.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar however played down. Nitish said, “No one has approached me. Such kinds of talks are common in all parties.”
Madan Mohan Jha immediately denied the claim of Bharat Singh and said he was a born Congressman; his father was a Congressman.
Ajit Kumar Sharma, leader of the Congress legislature party, also contradicted the claim of the former Congressman and said, “Who is Bhjarat Singh, and I do not know him.” He claimed all the 17 party MLAs were standing firm with Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
In the November assembly elections, 17 candidates of the Congress were elected though the party had fielded 70 candidates under the seat sharing arrangement with the Grand Alliance partners.
The split in the RJD engineered allegedly by Nitish Kumar during his second term as Chief Minister had fueled the speculations. Nitish Kumar had got both the RJD and the JDU legislature party split and the then Pradesh Congress president Ashok Kumar Chaudhury had joined the JDU along with five other legislators. In all, 13 RJD MLAs had joined the JDU.
In the fresh term, Nitish Kumar has assumed the office of Chief Minister at the “behest” of BJP. The JDU had secured third position in the recently concluded state polls, ironically, heading the government.
The RJD had 75 seats closely followed by BJP with 74 seats and JDU standing way back with 43 seats. An addition of 17 seats would bring JDU a little close to its partner, literally.
