December 14, 2024 19:21 (IST)
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Nitish resignation to spark Bihar election?
Patna, May 17 (IBNS): Bihar could be heading for Assembly Elections soon, after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resigned on Saturday, following a crushing defeat of his Janata Dal-United (JD-U) at the hands of ally-turned-foe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha elections.
The ruling JD-U managed to win just two of the 40 seats in Bihar while the BJP and its allies swept away 31 seats, Friday's results showed, prompting Kumar to resign.
Kumar however denied recommending the dissolution of the state assembly, as some reports had said earlier, and asserted that a new government could be made with the same assembly.
"I take full responsibility for the Lok Sabha results. The kind of communal polarisation that happened during this election campaign has never happened before," he said.
"This is not a good thing. The results do not bode well, but we respect the mandate of the people," Kumar said, adding he had tendered the resignation of his council of ministers to Governor.
"This election was more about making personal comments and less about issues. I have never seen such a poll campaigning before. We went to the people talking about development issues. But it is obvious that the people rejected us. In view of that I and my entire cabinet have tendered our resignation," he said,
"A lot of promises have been made by BJP. They have shown the youth dreams of more jobs, I hope they are able to fulfill them," he said, adding a dig at the BJP's poll campaign by saying, "We hope that good days have come."
Kumar said, "I have not recommended dissolution of the Assembly. The path is open for an alternative government to take oath. Our MLAs will meet tomorrow at 4 pm and discuss future course of the action. I have taken my decision by consulting my party chief and senior leaders of my party. There is no problem of majority. This decision was taken at a personal and moral level."
The 63-year-old former BJP-ally's move is could trigger state assembly polls sooner even though they were due by November next year.
Reacting to Kumar's move, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, "Those who betrayed us and carried out a 'hate Modi' campaign have been given a fitting reply."
He added: "Someone resigns but doesn't recommend dissolution of Assembly means he is playing politics."
The split with the BJP and the desertion of several top leaders had left the JD-U weak in the run up to the elections and Kumar was at the helm of a minority government.
Some political analysts said that Kumar was left without a choice but to resign as he was seen losing power, underscored by the fact that six of his ministers who had voiced dissent at parting with the BJP, did not attend a cabinet meeting on Friday - hinting at government collapse.
Kumar had parted ways with the BJP after the right-wing Hindu nationalist party pitched Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate eight months ago.
Speaking on Saturday, Kumar said, "The decision to snap ties with the BJP was not a strategic one but taken on the basis of the ideology. This was not for votes but taken on the basis of ideological difference. This decision has not affected the results of the polls. Even the nature of campaign made it clear that we took a right decision to separate from the BJP. But I have my best wishes for the new prime minister as he is going to take charge after getting the mandate of the people.
Narendra Modi led the BJP to the most resounding victory in 30 years in a national election as the party won 283 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats and the led the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to 337 tally well above the halfway mark.
The ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), facing strong resentment over a series of corruption scandals and lax governance, was routed to just 59 seats.
(Reporting by Divyanshu Dutta Roy in New Delhi)
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