India: Ahead of Bihar floor test, JD (U) issues whip to MLAs, RJD locks up its legislators

A little over a fortnight after taking oath as the chief ministerof the eastern state of Bihar for a record ninth time, this time again in alliance with the BJP, Janata Dal United chief Nitish Kumarwill be seeking a trust vote in the state assembly on Monday (Feb 12). Ahead of the trust vote, JDU has issued a three-line whip to all of its MLAs to be present and vote for the alliance.

JDU's chief whip Shravan Kumar said that those defying the whip "will lose their membership" even as he maintained that it was a "routine exercise that takes place ahead of every assembly session".

Apart from JDU, former Bihar chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief, Jitan Ram Manjhi has also issued a whip to the four MLAs of his party, instructing them to vote in favour of the NDA.

While the ruling party covers its bases, legislators of the opposition 'Mahagathbandhan' (Mega-alliance) started arriving atRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav's residence in Patna on Saturday (Feb 10).

After the meeting, some of the legislators were prevented from returning home. According to experts, RJD is wary of some MLAs ditching the party and joining NDA. Keeping them locked till the voting is a way to ensure the opposition is not further weakened.

Nitish's return and INDIA bloc's doom

Nitish returning to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold is not a new phenomenon and certainly not the first time the JP movement leader has taken a U-turn on his political allegiances.

In 2013, when Narendra Modi was announced as the BJP's PM candidate, an angry Kumar left the alliance, only to return in 2017 before breaking up again in 2022. His return this time around, however, has far-reaching consequences.

After Nitish switched allegiances, the fate of the INDIA bloc has been sealed. The opposition alliance was the last-ditch effort by the legacy parties to stop the BJP juggernaut.Bihar with40 Lok Sabha seats was the only state in the Hindi heartland where the INDIA bloc had its party in power.

However, with Nitish gone, there is a great probability that the BJP will sweep the region and further add to its riches.The INDIA alliance, cobbled together after much trouble in a bid to keep the BJP-led NDA at bay, is falling flat at the first hurdle of 'seat sharing', effectively depictingthat it was set up for failure from the beginning.

(With inputs from agencies)