Tejashwi Yadav: ‘BJP only knows how to buy and intimidate, we wanted that its agenda is not implemented in Bihar’

The RJD leader also said that after the developments in Bihar, the BJP is left with no alliance partner in the Hind heartland. “Across the Hindi heartland, the BJP does not have any alliance partner. History tells us that BJP destroys the parties with whom it forms an alliance. We saw that happening in Punjab and Maharashtra,” Tejashwi said.

The Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra have broken their alliance with the BJP. While the SAD walked out of the NDA in September 2020 over the controversial farm Bills, the Shiv Sena snapped ties after the 2019 Maharashtra polls.  However, the BJP does have Apna Dal and NISHAD Party as allies in Uttar Pradesh.

Tejashwi’s RJD leads the mahagathbandhan, or the grand alliance, of what were till recently the Opposition parties in Bihar. On Tuesday, the mahagathbandhan elected JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar as its leader, who then met Governor Phagu Chauhan to stake claim to form the government. Kumar said he submitted a list of 164 MLAs to the Governor.

In the Bihar House of 242 – down from the total 243 owing to the death of an RJD MLA – this is how various parties stand: BJP (77), JD(U) (45), HAM(S) (4), RJD (79), Congress (19), CPI(M-L) (12), CPI (4), AIMIM (1), and Independent (1). The halfway mark is 121.