Bihar political crisis: 7 parties, 164 MLAs in 'Mahagathbandhan': Nitish Kumar

Patna, Aug 09: Former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who ended the alliance with the BJP on Tuesday, said 'Mahagathbandhan' has the support of seven parties that include RJD and Congress.

"I came here to meet Governor and gave my resignation. There are 7 parties including 164 MLAs along with Independents in Mahagathbandahan," Nitish Kumar said at a joint presser with RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav after staking claim to form the new government.

He has submitted a list of 164 MLAs to the Bihar Governor. "We submitted a list of 164 MLAs to the governor and staked claim to form a new government. He will let us know when oath-taking can take place," Nitish told reporters. Notably, JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar has been elected as the leader of Mahagathbandhan or the Grand Alliance.

As per RJD, the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister will be held tomorrow at 2 pm at Raj Bhavan.

The strength of the Bihar Assembly now stands at 242 after the death of an MLA from the RJD.

The magic number in the Assembly is 122.

How the numbers stack up:

RJD (79)
JD(U) (45)
Congress (19)
CPI(M-L) (12)
CPI (4)
Hindustani Awam Morcha (S) (4)
AIMIM (1)
Independent (1)

Around 4 pm, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar resigned as "NDA's Chief Minister" to stake claim to form a new government after being declared, unanimously, the leader of the opposition Grand Alliance.

Kumar tendered his resignation to Governor Phagu Chauhan, after a meeting of MPs and MLAs of his JD(U) where ally BJP was accused of "backstabbing".

State BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal hit back, accusing Kumar of "betraying the mandate of 2020 assembly polls for which Nitish Kumar will be punished by the people of Bihar".

After the JD(U) meeting, Kumar drove to Raj Bhavan to tender his resignation from where he returned to his residence, stopping for a while to inform the large posse of journalists "it was decided at the party meeting that we quit the NDA. I have, therefore, resigned as the NDA's Chief Minister".

Shortly afterwards, Kumar drove to the residence of former chief minister Rabri Devi, just across the street, where all leaders of the Grand Alliance, comprising RJD, Congress and the Left, had gathered. Kumar, who was accompanied by JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, spent nearly half an hour at Rabri Devi's residence.

He returned along with the Leader of the Opposition and his former deputy Tejashwi Yadav, who was armed with a letter of support to Kumar. About 15 minutes later, Kumar met the Governor again to stake claim for forming a new government, this time accompanied by Yadav and senior colleagues in the JD(U) besides former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi whose four MLA-strong Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) has expressed "unconditional support" to the new formation.