On Sunday, a senior Opposition leader received a phone call from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, appraising the former about the emerging political situation in Bihar and the possibility of supporting the Janata Dal (United) to form a government, people aware of the matter said. Yadav’s outreach marked the beginning of a consultation process between key opposition parties of Bihar, crucial to the formation of a new government.
For the past two days, Yadav dialled a few Opposition leaders, while the top leadership of the JD(U) is believed to have established contact with the Congress, the fourth largest party in Bihar and an ally of the RJD. As the relationship between the BJP and JD(U) rapidly deteriorated, the opposition parties had finished their internal consultations and were ready to address the situation in Bihar, the people quoted above said.
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“Yadav specifically asked two questions. Whether we should support the JD(U) to form a government without the BJP and whether we should support Nitish Kumar as the chief minister,” an Opposition leader said, asking not to be named. Another Opposition leader confirmed a similar conversation with Yadav.
“I told him that our party will support all your initiatives to keep the BJP out of power,” said CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
A PTI report said that Kumar called both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and leader Rahul Gandhi to express gratitude for the Congress’s support. In the past two days, Yadav also spoke to the Congress high command, another leader confirmed.
A senior Congress leader added that the party is likely to join the new government and have a few ministerial berths. Out of the three Left parties, CPIM and CPI — both with two seats in the Bihar assembly — will provide outside support. But CPI(ML), the dominant Left force in Bihar with 12 seats is likely to be a part of the government.
A second senior Congress leader pointed out that before the JD(U) switched sides to join hands with the BJP earlier, he led a government with the RJD and Congress as allies. “We are going back to the old arrangement. We will consider support to any party who decides to leave the BJP,” the leader said, asking not to be named.
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