Bihar's Mahagathbandhan government will fall, warns Manjhi

The coalition government in Bihar is set to collapse following chief minister Nitish Kumar’s implicit attack on allies the Congress and RJD, Hindustan Awam Morcha leader Jitan Ram Manjhi said on Friday (January 26).

Nitish Kumar’s statement on dynasty politics was aimed at the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the former deputy chief minister of the state told the media in Patna.

Dynasty politics

"There is nothing to say much about the political atmosphere in Bihar. You all are watching it,” he said.

“Nitish Kumar's statement on dynasty politics was directed at the Congress and RJD. Under these circumstances, do you think they will remain united?" he asked.

"The grand alliance government in Bihar would not remain intact at all after this statement of the CM," he added.

Earlier, Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi clarified that Nitish Kumar's remarks about dynasty politics were not aimed at the RJD, headed by Lalu Prasad and whose one son, Tejashwi Yadav, is the deputy chief minister while another son, Tej Pratap Yadav, is a minister.

Tyagi added that Nitish Kumar's expression of gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for conferring Bharat Ratna on social leader Karpoori Thakur did not amount to a "prashansa" (praise).

Alliance rocked

The statements came amid speculation that Nitish Kumar’s comments had brought his alliance with the RJD on the rocks and the JD(U) leader was planning a return to the BJP-led NDA, which he quit two years ago.

RJD president Lalu Prasad's daughter Rohini Acharya's posts of X, which were later deleted, added fuel to the speculations.

Screenshots of the deleted posts, in Hindi, have gone viral on social media. One of these spoke of "those, who are ideologically adrift, claim to be the champions of socialism".

This was construed as an indirect attack on the chief minister.

However, the RJD later claimed that the posts were aimed at Modi and not Nitish Kumar.

(With agency inputs)