Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is set to resign from the state legislative council on Monday, March 30, weeks after his election to the Rajya Sabha earlier this month, sources said.
The move will clear the way for the JD(U) supremo's resignation from the CM post, so that he can begin his stint as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Confirming Nitish Kumar's impending resignation as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC), party colleague and Bihar lawmaker Anant Kumar Singh on Sunday said that JD(U) cadre was opposed to the move, but the CM had already made up his mind.
"Yes, he is doing so. Everyone wanted the same (that he should not resign from the CM post), but he did not agree," the JD(U) MLA said in a byte shared by wire agency ANI on X.
This comes amid growing speculation about Nitish Kumar's supposed reluctance to step down from the helm of the state government to become a Rajya Sabha MP, a position that many political observers argue will reduce him to a mere figurehead and significantly reduce his party's regional influence.
Earlier this week, his ally-turned-rival, RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav, claimed that Nitish Kumar had "no wish" to get elected to the Rajya Sabha but was "forced" to do so at the instance of JD(U)'s main coalition partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly said that the saffron party was out to "finish off" the JD(U).
Nitish Kumar, the longest-serving CM of Bihar, was elected to the Rajya Sabha on March 9. Asked for his comments on the development, Yadav said, "Nitish Kumar may be the national president of the JD(U), but the party is now not run by him but a cabal that is hand in glove with the BJP."
"We have always been saying that the BJP wants to finish off the JD(U). Nitish Kumar has been forced to enter the Rajya Sabha as part of this design. He had no wish to relinquish the chief minister's post," the former deputy CM was quoted as saying by news agency PTI in the state Assembly.
Nitish Kumar had announced his decision to resign as CM on March 5 this year, while expressing his long-held "desire to become a member of both Houses of the Bihar Legislature and both Houses of Parliament."
He was accompanied by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary, and other NDA candidates as he filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha.
Source: ANI