In his bid to keep the RJD legislators in loop about the merger process, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday held a meeting with them and had one to one talks. Of the 24 MlAs, 21 attended the meeting while three were not present in the State capital. RJD legislature party leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui said, “The meeting showed that the merger process is in full swing and very soon all the formalities will be completed by both RJD and JD(U).” He said the CM has also given them some responsibilities but he did not disclose it. He said that the legislators have been told that Sushasan or governance would be maintained anyway.
The BJP has been campaigning that with lalu Prasad joining Nitish, the governance will be a major victim and herald the return of the jungle raj. “Whatever they do through alliance or merger they cannot do anything and we are ready to fight them,” said BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh added, “The merger will start the exercise of jungle raj which will never succeed and the public will never tolerate.”
The CM had a meeting with the MlAs of JD(U) and supporting parties RJD, Congress and CPI on Wednesday which was also attended among others by former Chief Minster Rabri Devi at Nitish’s residence.