A Janata Dal United MLA has claimed that his leader Nitish Kumar will step down as chief minister in six months and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav will form the government in Bihar.

Gopalpur JDU legislator Narendra Kumar Niraj alias Gopal Mandal’s comments have come at a time there is friction in the NDA, and the JDU is feeling uncomfortable with a more assertive BJP that has become the senior partner for the first time in the alliance.

Mandal made the comments during a telephone conversation with Bihpur BJP legislator Kumar Shailendra, an audio clip of which has been leaked and shared widely on social media, and during a media conference later.

“Chief minister Nitish Kumar will step down from his post after six months and Tejashwi will form the government,” Mandal is heard telling Shailendra in the clip.

Mandal, in the telephone conversation, alleged that BJP legislators had sided with the JDU’s opponents and is heard using expletives against senior leaders of the saffron party.

Shailendra confirmed that Mandal had spoken about such a possibility but denied leaking the audio.

“Whatever Mandal said is in front of everybody. He is a four-term MLA and keeps speaking such things. However, I did not leak the conversation or put it up on social media,” Shailendra said.

Mandal’s revelation indicates that the friction between the JDU and the BJP is simmering despite the best efforts by their top leaders to present a picture of amicability.
The JDU has strongly condemned the “poaching” of six of its seven MLAs by the BJP in Arunachal Pradesh, calling it an act of treachery.

The JDU is also angry with the BJP over what the Bihar party thinks is covert patronage to the Lok Janshakti Party’s Chirag Paswan during the Assembly elections in October-November last year. Chirag had fielded candidates against the JDU, eating into its votes.

There are also indications of growing closeness between the JDU and Opposition RJD, whose leaders have sent feelers to Nitish to quit the NDA and rejoin the Grand Alliance.

The Opposition parties expressed glee over Mandal’s comments.

Congress leader Anand Madhav said: “Mandal’s statement showcases the current relations between the JDU and the BJP. There is much stress between the two parties. Though the senior leaders of the two parties are asserting that the government will last its full term, it does not look possible.”

RJD leader Shakti Yadav said the JDU legislator’s comments had “expressed the sentiments of the entire party, which is feeling afraid that the BJP would gobble it up”.