Bihar crisis: Nitish leaves for Delhi with supporting MLAs

Patna: Senior JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar left for New Delhi this evening with MLAs of his party, RJD, Congress, CPI and an Independent, intending to parade them before President Pranab Mukherjee tomorrow at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in a show of majority support to form a government. “It is more than 24 hours and no decision has come from the Bihar Governor in regard to our claim to form the government. The majority is in our favour and we will request the President of India about it. We will take our MLAs to him around 2.15 pm tomorrow,” Kumar told reporters at the Patna airport.[caption id=“attachment_2091571” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar. PTI[/caption] Kumar, who ruled the state as the chief minister from 2005 to mid-2014 and was again elected the leader of JD(U) Legislature Party (JDULP) yesterday, said the delay on part of Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi vitiates the atmosphere and promotes horse-trading. “The delay should not happen. We have staked our claim for government formation and given everything in writing to the Governor. We have presented the MLAs in our support in person. We want that constitutional values should be upheld and no wrong measures should be adopted for government formation,” he said. Kumar, who has claimed a support of 130 MLAs, left by an Indigo Airlines flight with around 60 MLAs. Around an equal number of MLAs left for Delhi on an earlier flight by the same airliner. All the legislators will put up at a 5-star hotel in Noida in UP after disembarking at New Delhi airport. The former chief minister was accompanied by senior leaders and former ministers of his party including Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Shrawan Kumar, Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lallan’, PK Shahi and Damodar Raut. PTI