Nitish Kumar.
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
Congress leaders in Bihar were upbeat till Saturday. On Sunday there were upheavals in Maharashtra, even then they were not much worried. But, on Monday, when the news of the postponement of the next meeting for opposition unity came, they started getting restless. They started calling each other whether this has really happened? The reason is not the question of the effort of opposition unity, but the expansion of the Nitish Kumar cabinet in Bihar. The expansion is constantly getting postponed and now when the struggle is going on to decide the name on the basis of the confirmation of getting two ministerial posts, then the information about the postponement of this meeting has come.
There was talk of agreement on two posts, no one in front
The Congress has 19 MLAs in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. On the basis of numerical strength in the government, RJD-JDU got one ministerial post on four MLAs. Congress could not raise its voice at that time or it was suppressed. But, soon after taking over the office, the new State President of Congress, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, started pressing for the Congress to get at least four ministerial berths. Now there are two ministerial posts. Means, two more became. Initially, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was said to agree on the demand of these two ministerial posts, but Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav were not said to agree. Nitish then put the ball in Tejashwi’s court. The matter was stuck. But, during the meeting held in Patna for opposition unity, the matter of consensus on two posts came to the fore. No one has given a formal statement on this, everything is on the fly.
When Manjhi left, JDU administered the oath of his minister
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was preparing for the meeting of opposition unity, got a big jolt from the Hindustani Awami Morcha (HAM Secular) last month, when Santosh Kumar Suman alias Santosh Manjhi, son of HAM chief and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, was dropped from the Bihar cabinet. resigned. After this resignation, the cabinet expansion was discussed, even then the Congress made complete preparations, but then JDU made Ratnesh Sada a minister from its quota and informal information was given to hold the next cabinet expansion after June 23. After the exit of all the leaders on June 23, on June 25, Congress Legislature Party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan reiterated the demand of the Congress. But, now the Congressmen are apprehensive about the effect of postponing the next meeting of the opposition parties. The next meeting is to be held in conjunction with the Congress, that is why this doubt is happening.