This is the second shock for Nitish Kumar after he retained the post of Chief Minister of Bihar.
Patna:
Nitish Kumar, still resentful of the Bihar elections that demoted him as a junior member of the BJP, has received further humiliation from his longtime ally in a state where his party had recently registered his presence.
Six of the seven lawmakers from Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) in Arunachal Pradesh have defected to the BJP. The JDU now has only one MLA in the 60-member Arunachal assembly. Along with an MLA from the Arunachal People’s Party, the BJP now has 48 members.
The JDU MLAs who resigned are Hayeng Mangfi, Jikke Tako, Dongru Siongju, Talem Taboh, Kanggong Taku, and Dorjee Wangdi Kharma. Three of them had been suspended and notified last month for anti-party activity.
The head of the BJP state unit, Biyuram Wahge, said the development demonstrated people’s faith and confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pema Khandu.
Those close to Nitish Kumar are extremely upset by what is seen as a betrayal by the BJP and this will occur during the two-day Janata Dal United National Council meeting this weekend.
The JDU became a recognized state party in Arunachal Pradesh last year, after winning seven seats in the northeastern state and coming second to the BJP, which was the largest party with 41 seats.
“The recount entitles us to the status of the main opposition party. But we will offer our full support to the BJP government in that state. Even if we obtain the status of an opposition party, we will be a friendly opposition,” said the JDU leader. , KC Tyagi. has been quoted by the PTI news agency.
The strength of the opposition has now been reduced to 12: four from Congress and the National People’s Party, one from the JDU and three independents.
This is the second shock for Nitish Kumar after he retained the post of Chief Minister of Bihar in recent polls, but was made keenly aware of his diminished status in the BJP-led coalition.
In the October-November elections, the majority of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 243-member assembly was driven by the 74 seats of the BJP. The JDU finished at No. 3, after Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD and BJP, with their tally dropping to 43 from 71 in 2015.
Nitish Kumar still became prime minister, but the BJP proved who the boss is by replacing his second-in-command, Sushil Modi, with two new senior vice ministers.
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