Nitish Kumar gears up to take Bihar CM's oath for 8th time as BJP fumes over 'betrayal'

While Nitish Kumar is preparing to take oath as the CM for the eighth time, the BJP is venting its anger over what it calls his betrayal. The Congress, meanwhile, has been smug about the whole political drama saying the BJP's got its 'just deserts'.

After dumping former ally BJP to walk out of the NDA and into the Mahagathbandhan, Nitish Kumar is set to take oath as Bihar’s eighth chief minister on Wednesday. Nitish Kumar on Tuesday submitted his resignation to Governor Phagu Chauhan and submitted a list of 164 MLAs and claimed the support of seven parties to form a new government in Bihar.

So, here’s a look at how it came to this, what prompted Nitish Kumar to break the BJP-JD(U) alliance and what’s the road ahead as Bihar gets a new government.

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A combination of the JD(U) getting fewer seats to contest and winning even fewer seats in the recent assembly elections might have influenced Nitish Kumar to change alliances yet again.

It is also being speculated that the immediate trigger for Nitish Kumar’s decision was the BJP’s alleged attempt to poach JD(U) MLAs, a claim that the saffron party has denied. According to JD(U) sources, party rebel RCP Singh had attempted to influence JD(U) MLAs at the behest of the BJP.

They said that at least six JD(U) MLAs have audio clips purportedly of phone calls made to them to BROKER A “deal” — break away from JD(U) in lieu of cabinet berths. This was apparently an attempt to weaken Nitish Kumar’s hold on his party and consequently the alliance government.

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