Bihar Mahagathbandhan crisis: 'Nitish never sought Tejashwi's resignation' says Lalu

As per sources Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is likely to take a decision before Bihar assembly session resumes on Friday

Image: Lalu Prasad Yadav/File

Bihar: RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday reiterated his stand on son Tejashwi's resignation and said, "Tejaswhi won't resign no matter what", He further asserted that "I keep talking to Nitish and he has never sought a resignation from Tejashwi". Sources have revealed that a decision on prolonged debate over Bihar deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav’s resignation over his alleged involvement in illegal land deal is likely to be taken soon. The Bihar Vidhansabha session is set to begin on Friday and as per sources, Nitish is likely to take a decision on Tejashwi by Wednesday or Thursday. It would be interesting to see if Nitish would sack the deputy CM Tejashwi. Nitish has also held meeting with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi when he visited the national capital. After meeting with Rahul, JDU had cleared its stand and indirectly hinted at Tejashwi to tender his resignation, post which RJD had asserted that ‘Tejashwi wouldn’t resign’. The ball then came back in Nitish’s court, who has been receiving immense pressure from BJP, for Nitish had earlier claimed that no fort of corruption shall be tolerated in his government. Speaking on the matter senior RJD leader Shivanand Tewari on Wednesday said, "the prime responsibility of saving Mahagathbandhan (grand-alliance) is in hands of Nitish Kumar. Tewari said, "We urged Nitish to speak on the issue with folded hands". He further added saying, "how can an alliance work without a dialogue?". What are the possible solutions with Nitish?

1. The first solution with CM Nitish is that he dissolves his cabinet and elects a new cabinet sans-Tejaswhi, Tejpratap. If this happens, then Lalu is likely to support Nitish from outside the Government.

2. The second solution is he could take cabinet’s resignation and bring vote of confidence. Through this he could de-mask RJD and Congress. If Nitish gets vote of confidence, he could get BJP support, which is already showing a green flag to him and wants him to leave Lalu and join hands with them.

RJD is holding a meeting on the issue on Wednesday; post which Nitish would also hold a meet with his party members. Congress on the other hand has maintained silence on the issue and is yet to clear its stand. Statistics of number of seats and majority: There are a total of 243 MLAs in Bihar assembly Number of seats required to form majority is 122 Number of RJD MLAs is 80 Number of JDU MLAs is 71 Number of Congress MLAs is 27