As the Delhi Assembly election results injected fresh excitement in the Nitish Kumar camp here and put BJP leaders on the back foot, over 130 MlAs of JD(U), RJD, Congress, CPI and Independents reached Delhi on Tuesday evening.
The former Bihar Chief Minister has sought time from President Pranab Mukherjee for a show of strength on Wednesday. The purpose of taking the supporters to Delhi was not only to parade them in Rashtrapati Bhawan but also to keep the flock intact and prevent horse-trading.
The Jitan Ram Manjhi camp, meanwhile, mounted an attack on Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary, who has already recognised Nitish Kumar as the leader of the JD(U) legislature Party, and demanded a CBI probe against him and his immediate arrest.
Gyanendra Singh Gyanu, the JD(U) MlA whose membership had been terminated by the Speaker, on Tuesday gave a letter to the Chief Minister requesting him to recommend a CBI probe into the January 2004 murder of lJP leader and former MP Rajesh Kumar in Gaya. Gyanu alleged that Chaudhary had a hand in that killing. Independent MlA Pawan Jaiswal has given a notice to the Assembly Secretary for bringing a no-confidence motion against the Speaker which was rejected.
Meanwhile, sources in the Rashtrapati Bhawan said the President will decide on Wednesday on Kumar’s plea to present supporting MlAs before him to press a point that he has a majority in the Bihar Assembly.
Before leaving for the National Capital, Bihar JD(U) president Bashistha Narain Singh said at the airport: “It’s been more than 24 hours and we have not received any signal from the Raj Bhawan. The Governor has not taken cognizance of our claim. So we have sought time from the President.”
Bihar Congress chief Ashok Chaudhary said the Governor is delaying things and it would only encourage horse trading. “We are going to expose the BJP’s conspiracy before the President,” he added. Senior JD(U) leader Ramai Ram said: “We are confident that Nitish will get the chance to form the Government.” Former Minister Renu Kushwaha, who had turned rebel during the lok Sabha elections, also said that Nitish should be given a chance without any delay.
Earlier, Nitish hit out at Chief Minister Manjhi and alleged that his camp was luring MlAs with ministerial berths and BJP tickets for Assembly polls and asked how come he was promising a BJP ticket.
“This was the BJP’s conspiracy to keep Manjhi in the forefront and prompt him to do all the wrong things and then blame me for all the wrongdoings. I challenge the BJP to clarify its stand on Manjhi,” said Nitish. He added that the BJP had been saying that it was the internal affair of the JD(U) but why was the party meddling in it when the JD(U) had already taken a decision. The former Chief Minister took a jibe at Manjhi on his demand for secret ballot in the Assembly and said the rules of the legislative body could not be changed to fulfill somebody’s wish.
State BJP leaders, clearly devastated after the Delhi results, were heard saying that the political atmosphere would have been different in Bihar today had the party won Delhi. Former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement that Nitish should not harbour any misunderstanding after AAP’s victory as “he cannot score a victory in Bihar by piggybacking on the symbol of corruption Congress and champion of Jungle Raj lalu Prasad.”
“In the 2010 Assembly polls people gave a two-third majority because they were happy with the work of the JD(U)-BJP Government. But the same public punished him in May 2014 lok Sabha elections because of his decision to sever ties,” Modi added. leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav said Bihar is not Delhi.