Tough Competition to Chameleons: How Congress Reacted to Nitish Kumar Dumping Mahagathbandhan

Bihar Political Crisis: The Congress party lashed out at Janata Dal United President Nitish Kumar after he resigned from the chief minister’s post on Sunday, January 28. Comparing Nitish Kumar to chameleons, the Congress party said that it was already aware that Nitish Kumar is soon going to jump ships. 

Reacting to Nitish Kumar’s resignation, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called it a “political drama” and said that the entire crisis in Bihar was being created to divert the attention from the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. 

"Nitish Kumar, who frequently changes political partners, is giving tough competition to the chameleons in changing colours," Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X. He said it is clear that the prime minister and the BJP are "scared" of the Yatra being undertaken by Rahul Gandhi, which is set to enter Bihar soon.

"It is quite clear that the prime minister and the BJP are scared of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and this political drama has been created to divert attention from it," Congress leader Ramesh said.

Was Aware of It, says Mallikarjun Kharge 

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that he was aware of it before hand and was informed by RJD leaders. “Bihar Dy CM (Tejashwi Yadav) and Lalu Prasad Yadav had hinted regarding this and today it became true. 'Aise desh mein bahut saare log hein, aaya ram gaya ram'..." said Kharge. 

"Earlier he and us were fighting together. When I talked to Lalu Ji and Tejashwi, they also said that Nitish is going. If he wanted to stay, he would have stayed but he wants to go. That's why we already knew this, but to keep the India Alliance intact, if we say something wrong, the wrong message will be sent,” Kharge added. 

Congress leader Tariq Anwar said, "We have faced such challenges several times. The Opposition is strong here. RJD, Congress and Left will face this challenge together and I think people of Bihar won't forgive Nitish Kumar this time. People of Bihar are being toyed with. They are being mocked. Bihar's image has suffered a blow..."

Nitish Kumar resigns, NDA govt soon in Bihar 

Nitish Kumar submitted his resignation to Governor Rajendra V Arlekar on Sunday morning. The governor accepted Kumar's resignation, and asked him to continue as caretaker CM till a new government is formed. 

On the sidelines of it, BJP has decided to support the NDA government in Bihar with JDU as a part of it and has elected Samrat Choudhary as the leader of the legislative party.