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'BJP never betrays...': Chidambaram's 5 takeaways as Nitish Kumar splits with NDA
As Nitish Kumar is all set to take the oath as the chief minister of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar today, Congress eyes 4 ministerial berths.
As Nitish Kumar split with the NDA on Tuesday in a rapid culmination of the political developments in Bihar and is all set to take oath as the chief minister of the Mahagathbandhan today, Congress leader P Chidambaram took a swipe at the BJP and said when BJP tries to split other political parties, it is to ‘purify’ them. Also Read: Can Grand Alliance 2.0 in Bihar avoid pitfalls of the past?
BJP never betrays the people of a state, Chidambaram tweeted, sarcastically presenting the 'motive' of BJP's modus operandi. Nitish Kumar earlier alleged that BJP was trying to split JD(U) which led him to break up with the NDA - to prevent a situation like that of Maharashtra.
As BJP said Nitish Kumar's action is a betrayal to the people's mandate of 2020 -- which was for the JD(U)-BJP combine, Chidambaram sarcastically said what BJP does is never betraying the state of the people. He said, one, encouraging defections from other parties is a welfare measure to uplift the defectors; two, breaking other political parties is to purify those parties; three, destabilising state governments is to bring stability to governance in these states; four, launching investigations against Opposition leaders is to test the efficacy of laws passed by Parliament so that the laws can be more weaponised; five, Congress-mukt Bharat is to strengthen democracy through one-party rule like China, Russia, Turkiye, Vietnam and North Korea.
In the return of the Mahagathbandhan, the Congress is likely to get four ministerial berths. The party has also sought the post of the Speaker of the state assembly, but Nitish Kumar has not yet agreed on that, reports said. News agency PTI reported that Kumar spoke to both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi soon after resigning from his post of chief minister.
The Congress has 19 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar Assembly while the JD(U) has 45, RJD 79, CPI(ML) 12, and CPI and CPI(M) each have two legislators. The BJP has 77 MLAs in Bihar while the Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) has 4. The House has one Independent MLA while one seat is vacant.
