• Nitish likely to meet Sonia, Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, reports NDTV
• Nitish Kumar stake claim as Chief Minister of 'Mahagathbandhan' alliance, reports NDTV
• RJD, Congress, Left MLAs at Nitish home to elect him leader, reports NDTV
• Nitish Kumar elected leader of 'Mahagathbandhan' as prelude to staking claim to form new govt in Bihar: JDU sources
• According to JDU sources, Nitish to pick new cabinet: NDTV
• Nitish, Tejashwi march to Governor's house, reports NDTV

In a day of fast-moving political developments, the mercurial Nitish Kumar resigned as Bihar chief minister after telling his party early on Tuesday that the JD(U) had split with ally BJP.

"I have resigned," Nitish said after meeting Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhavan in Patna, sources said.

There's speculation that Nitish is likely to return to Raj Bhavan along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and stake claim to form a new government with the support of the Mahagathbandhan comprising the RJD, Congress and Left parties, reports television news channels. Though no official announcements have been made, senior RJD leader Upendra Kushwaha in a tweet congratulated Nitish for leading a "new coalition in new form," implicitly acknowledging the split and embracing the RJD-led `Mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) to continue in office, reports PTI.

TTO Graphics

A meeting of the RJD-led Grand Alliance, comprising the Left and the Congress, also took place at Rabri Devi's house, across the street from the chief minister's residence where all the MLAs are said to have signed a letter of support to Kumar.

Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav is likely to visit the CM's residence to hand over the letter of support at any time.

The CM is understood to have told party legislators and MPs, at a meeting he convened at his official residence, that he had been driven against the wall by the BJP which tried to weaken his JD(U), first by propping up Chirag Paswan's rebellion and later through the party's former national president RCP Singh.

Singh was made a cabinet minister at the Centre without Kumar's explicit agreement. Consequently, when his term as a Rajya Sabha member ended, the JD(U) refused to give him another term as an MP, thus ending his stint as cabinet minister as well.

Following this, rumours of a split in the JD(U) engineered by Singh's supporters surfaced.

Relations between the BJP and the JD(U) have been worsening for quite some time in the wake of disagreements over a host of issues including caste census, population control and the Agnipath' defence recruitment scheme.

CPIML (Liberation) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya had told PTI on Monday the crux of the row between JD(U) and BJP also stemmed from the recent statement by J P Nadda, president of the saffron party, who said regional parties have no future.

The BJP, meanwhile, has gone into a huddle at the residence of Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad, where all ministers belonging to the party besides state president Sanjay Jaiswal and other senior leaders are also present.

Nitish is an old hand at switching sides, his serial somersaults earning him the moniker of “Paltu Ram” (turncoat).

Neither the BJP nor the Opposition Grand Alliance can form the government in Bihar without the JDU, unless one of the bigger parties splits or sworn enemies BJP and RJD join hands.

The RJD now has 79 seats in the 243-member Assembly, followed by the BJP (77), JDU (45), Congress (19), the Left (16), HAMS (4) and the AIMIM (1). There’s an Independent MLA while one seat is vacant.

The JD(U) enjoys the support of four MLAs of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha and the lone Independent.

Nitish parted ways with Lalu Prasad and joined the NDA during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s days, before dumping the BJP in 2013 when Narendra Modi was declared the alliance’s prime ministerial candidate. He tied up with the RJD and the Congress to win the 2015 Assembly polls, and then returned to the NDA in July 2017.

Ties between the ruling partners had worsened since the 2020 elections that turned the JDU into the junior partner with fewer seats, with Nitish suspecting the BJP of using former ally LJP, led by Chirag Paswan, to slander him and cut into his votes.