'It will be difficult for BJP to break JDU or RJD in Bihar'

‘BJP is in touch with Congress MLAs. Yet, the coalition government has more than 160 MLAs and breaking away a faction from Congress will not help the BJP.’

- BADAR BASHIR

Political circles are abuzz about the possibility of a Maharashtra-like situation-where Ajit Pawar broke away from the NCP to join hands with BJP-being replicated in Bihar, as this could possibly break the coalition government of the Janata Dal United (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress in the state.

Leaders privy to the developments say that the BJP wants the RJD to support the BJP and form the coalition government, ditching its ally JDU. However, experts believe that there is no way that the present government can be toppled the way Maharashtra government was last year, when the BJP lured a majority of Shiv Sena MLAs to form their own split group to form a coalition government with the BJP. In the 243-seat strong Assembly in Bihar, there are 75 seats with RJD, 43 with JDU and around 19 with the Congress. To break the JDU, the saffron camp needs to get 30 MLAs to defect from the party in order to avoid the anti-defection law.