The Bharatiya Janata Party has offered to provide support to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar if the state’s grand alliance is dissolved. “If Nitish Kumar pulls out of the alliance, we will not be part of the government, but we can offer outside support,” NDTV quoted BJP leader Nityanand Rai as saying.

The BJP leader’s comments come amid tension between the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Janata Dal (United). The rift between Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Bihar chief minister came to fore after Kumar backed the National Democratic Alliance’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, over Meira Kumar, who was the Opposition’s pick.

Advertisement

Rai further said that the central leadership will make the final decision on providing support to Kumar. He, however, said that if Kumar does not act against Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav, who is also the deputy chief minister of Bihar, then they will “expose” the JD(U) chief. “If he fails to do so, the BJP would have no alternative but to go to the public to expose the CM,” he said, according to Hindustan Times.

‘Tejashwi won’t resign’: RJD

At the legislators meeting under the presidentship of Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday, the RJD made it clear that Tejashwi Yadav would not step down from his post following corruption charges filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

“Allegations are made against so many people, are they all supposed to resign?” RJD MLA Bhai Birendra said, according to The Telegraph. “No one should consider him weak, he is our leader. He is deputy CM and will remain deputy CM, he is not an ordinary person.”

Advertisement

Meanwhile, the JD(U) is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss the matter with their party chief. Nitish Kumar has remained silent since the CBI raided 12 locations of Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members in connection with a land scam case. He had called off his weekly Lok Samvad programme citing health reasons on Monday.

The Congress, the JD(U) and the RJD alliance is in power in Bihar. While the RJD has 80 MLAs in the alliance, the JD(U) has 71, and the Congress has 27 MLAs. Nitish Kumar needs the support of 122 MLAs to continue as the chief minister of Bihar.