Political circles in Bihar came abuzz on Sunday amid reports that the Janata Dal (United) brass has called a meeting of its Members of Parliament on Tuesday at the party’s office in Patna, even as speculation over differences between the party and its alliance partner, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), persists.
“There will be a meeting of MPs on Tuesday,” said a senior party leader, requesting anonymity. The leader added that the MPs attending ongoing the Parliament session have been asked to reach Patna by Monday or Tuesday morning.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar and top functionaries of the party are expected to attend the meeting, said the leader.
However, JD(U) state spokesperson, Nikhil Mandal, said: “ I am not aware of any such meeting of MPs called by the party on Tuesday.”
Reports of the meeting come a day after former JD(U) president RCP Singh quit the party in the face of corruption allegations.
The party had issued a show cause notice to him on Saturday morning citing alleged irregularities in his land-holdings. Singh, a former Union minister, resigned from the party's primary membership in the evening, saying the party was a “sinking ship”. Singh was the party’s only member to make it to the Union Cabinet. Several reports had suggested that the JD(U) was upset over this.
{{/usCountry}}The party had issued a show cause notice to him on Saturday morning citing alleged irregularities in his land-holdings. Singh, a former Union minister, resigned from the party's primary membership in the evening, saying the party was a “sinking ship”. Singh was the party’s only member to make it to the Union Cabinet. Several reports had suggested that the JD(U) was upset over this.
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Another key development on Sunday was chief minister Kumar’s absence from the 7th governing council meeting of the Niti Aayog in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the meeting. However, Kumar attended a state event later in the day in Patna with five BJP leaders.
On Sunday, JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh lashed out at Singh accusing him of conspiring to “sink the ship”.
In response, Singh dismissed all the charges against him as “baseless” and said he was made a union minister in the NDA government in July, 2021 by the approval of chief minister Kumar.
Responding to reports that the JD(U) may be considering a possible realignment with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, stressed that the JD(U)’s ties with the BJP continue to be strong.