Days after Raj Bhawan visit, Nitish meets JD-U legislators one-on-one

The JD-U currently has 45 members of legislative assembly (MLAs) in the 243-member House and 23 members in the legislative council whose total strength is 75.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday met all legislators of his party Janata Dal United individually, a move that has set off frenzied speculation in the state, coming as it does two days after the CM visited Governor Rajendra Arlekar in a “courtesy call”.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar meets Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at Raj Bhawan in Patna . (HT file)

The JD-U currently has 45 members of legislative assembly (MLAs) in the 243-member House and 23 members in the legislative council whose total strength is 75.

A few days ago, Kumar had asked officials to speed up development works as “elections can happen anytime”.

JD-U leaders said Kumar usually interacts with legislators collectively and rarely meets with them individually. “Past experience suggests such meetings may be a curtain raiser for some decision,” said a senior party leader, who did not want to be named.

For the record, JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, an MLC, said, “The meeting is just to take stock of problems in their (MLAs’) areas.”

“The CM is enquiring about problems in different constituencies and also taking feedback about the party’s position as well steps that need to be taken to strengthen the organization. He also told us to maintain public contact and raise the matter to him in case of any problem,” said JD-U MLA Ram Vilas Kamat.

“He called us to talk about the organization and to discuss about the problems of our respective areas,” said MLC Ghulam Gaus.

State BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said JD-U legislators are looking for opportunities in other parties ever since CM Nitish Kumar parted ways with BJP and allied with Lalu Prasad’s RJD. “CM has lost his credibility. This is the reason why Nitish Kumar is trying to handle the crisis by meeting MLAs and MPs and leaders one-on-one,” he said.