Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a meeting in New Delhi, Wednesday, Feb 7, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Days after he walked away from the Rashtriya Janata Dal alliance back to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance to form a second government this term with the BJP, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi. He also met Home Minister Amit Shah. With Nitish were Bihar deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha were in the meeting.
After the meeting, Nitish Kumar told reporters that while he has switched sides, this time he intends to stay. “I know I moved away (from the NDA) twice, but now I am here forever. I will not go anywhere,” the Bihar CM said.
“I met the PM, HM and BJP president (J P Nadda) and we had a good talk. We have been together since 1995 when the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM,” he added.
The trust vote for the new government is scheduled for February 12.
With nine seats in the Rajya Sabha falling vacant from Bihar, sources from the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) both confirmed that discussions on the seats took place during the meeting. Elections to these seats are scheduled for February 27.
The expansion of the state Cabinet also came up for discussions. In the new government, only nine members have taken oath, while the sanctioned strength is 27.
The JDU government with the RJD lasted for only 17 months, and Nitish Kumar had walked out of the NDA to form a government with Tejaswi Yadav as his deputy in August 2022. Prior to that, Nitish was with the BJP and had fought both the Bihar Assembly elections as well as the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with the NDA.
Nitish was also considered the face behind the Opposition’s INDIA Alliance, and with him waking back to the NDA, the BJP has said that the Alliance is now over.