Process to form new govt in Bihar to commence after April 13: JD(U)

In Bihar, JD(U) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha said the process for forming a new government will begin after April 13, following political developments involving Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The BJP is expected to play a key role in selecting the next chief minister

Patna: JD(U) national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha on Sunday said the process of formation of a new government in Bihar, which has been necessitated by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s election to the Rajya Sabha, will “roll out after April 13”.

Jha was speaking to reporters here shortly after calling on Kumar, the JD(U)’s supremo, who is expected to step down as the chief minister to make way for a new government which is likely to be headed by the BJP.

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“I think it will roll out after April 13. But you should speak to those who are in the state government for more details,” said Jha, a former minister who is now a Rajya Sabha MP.

Besides Jha, those who turned up at the chief minister’s residence included Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, a BJP leader, who is also being seen as a likely candidate for the top job, and Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, a senior JD(U) leader and the minister for parliamentary affairs.

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary also had a brief interaction with journalists, whom he told, “The new chief minister will be elected by legislators of the NDA upon the recommendation of the BJP.” “The BJP has an important role to play (in the formation of a new government). It has its own process in these matters. Once it comes forward with its plan, necessary things will follow,” he added.

Notably, BJP leaders here, who are excited about having their “first chief minister in Bihar”, nonetheless concede that the candidate shall be “chosen by the central leadership”.

On Saturday, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is now in the Trinamool Congress but had earlier spent decades in the BJP, made a tongue in cheek reference to the saffron party’s high command culture.

“Bihar must be wary of some baba arriving with a ‘parchi’,” Sinha had said, referring to instances in a number of BJP-ruled states, where the top job reportedly went to less fancied candidates after emissaries from Delhi turned up with the name on a piece of paper.