BJP willing to support Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) if RJD pulls out of alliance in Bihar

The BJP is willing to extend outside support to the ruling Janata Dal (United) in Bihar if coalition partner RJD pull out of the government.

“If there is a political crisis in Bihar, then BJP may give outside support to JD(U),” state BJP president Nityanand Rai said on Monday evening.

He has been opposing any coalition with chief minister Nitish Kumar’s party. But his latest remarks indicated a growing closeness between the two former alliance partners.

The two parties were allies for close to 17 years before parting ways in 2014 after the BJP made Narendra Modi its prime ministerial candidate.

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Rai said in the morning that the people of Bihar wanted to know from the chief minister how much time he would need to remove RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s sons — Tejashwi and Tej Pratap — who are ministers and face corruption charges.

“If he fails to do so, the BJP would have no alternative but to go to the public to expose the CM,” he said.

The BJP has also announced a statewide movement on the issue. “We are waiting for the CM to break his silence. In a day or so, we will decide our move,” Rai said.

The BJP leadership announced that it would “take to the streets” if Kumar failed to either obtain the resignation of deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad in the wake of the CBI filing an FIR against him in a corruption case, or drop him from his council.