Bihar polls: Joint meeting of NDA legislature party to be held in Patna on 15 Nov, says Nitish Kumar

Patna: A joint meeting of the NDA legislature party will be held in Patna on Sunday where Nitish Kumar will be elected as its leader, it was decided on Friday. The decision was taken at an “informal” meeting of leaders of the four NDA constituents in Bihar — the JD(U), BJP, HAM and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) at Nitish’s residence. “The meeting will start at 12:30 pm on Sunday, 15 November where all further decisions will be taken,” said Nitish, who heads the JD(U). He also said the current state cabinet will hold its last meeting in the evening where a decision on the dissolution of the Assembly, the tenure of which expires on 29 November, will be taken. “These formalities have to be completed before the formation of a new government. The cabinet’s recommendations will be forwarded to the governor whose approval will be followed by other steps leading to the formation of a new government,” Nitish added. Despite the BJP emerging as the largest party in the ruling alliance with 74 seats, 31 more than the JD(U), the top leadership of the saffron party, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has emphatically endorsed Nitish as the next chief minister. He was declared the ruling coalition’s chief ministerial candidate much before the election process had started. Though Nitish did not divulge more on what transpired during the meeting at his residence, informed sources said the issues discussed included the representation of each constituent in the cabinet and election of the new Assembly Speaker. Speculation is rife that the BJP might push for an EBC or a Dalit as a deputy chief minister though it is not clear whether the insistence will be on replacing veteran leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who has been holding the post for the most part since 2005, or replicating the experiment in adjoining Uttar Pradesh where two leaders occupy the post.