BJP-JD(U) 'Rift': Here Is How Assembly Numbers Stack Up In Nitish Kumar's Bihar

Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar has called for a meeting of party MLAs and MPs today to discuss future course of action after RCP Singh's exit from the party.

Cracks have started to appear in the Janata Dal (United) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance in Bihar.

Source : PTI File Photo

New Delhi: After Maharashtra, a political stir is taking place in Bihar after Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar called for a meeting of all MLAs and MPs on Tuesday. Tensions surfaced following the resignation of bureaucrat-turned politician and former Union minister RCP Singh, party chief for one-and-a-half years, who quit the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) 12 years ago to join JD(U). “Bihar CM Nitish Kumar calls a meeting of JD(U) MLAs and MPs tomorrow to discuss the scenario that has emerged following former national president RCP Singh's exit,” party chief Rajiv Ranjan Singh said on Monday, as per a PTI report.

As per sources, the meeting has been called by Nitish Kumar for taking a decision on the future of the ruling alliance in the state. There is a possibility of major political upheaval in the JD(U)-BJP-ruled state in the next 48 hours. 

The rift between the saffron party and JD(U) became more visible after Nitish Kumar skipped the 7th meeting of the NITI Aayog governing council chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that took place on Sunday. 

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Monday said that it was ready to "embrace" JD(U) if "Nitish Kumar chooses to dump NDA".  

Here Is How The Bihar Legislative Assembly Numbers Stack Up:

• The Bihar Legislative Assembly comprises a total of 243 seats bringing the majority mark to 122 seats. 
• The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has 127 legislators in all with Bharatiya Janata Party having 77 MLAs — racing the highest number, followed by Janata Dal (United) with 45 MLAs, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) with 4 MLAs and support of one Independent MLA. 
• The Opposition Mahagathbandhan with 80 MLAs from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), 12 MLAs from Communist Party of India - Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML), and 2 each from Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) aggregates the cumulative number to 96 MLAs.  
• The Congress party has 19 legislators in the Assembly while All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has one MLA in the Assembly.
• In an event where JD(U) parts away with the NDA, the alliance’s headcount will drop to 82 and have an option to join the Mahagathbandhan conveniently crossing the majority mark (96+45=140).