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Nitish's Saturday meeting with Rahul was final nail in alliance coffin

Last Updated 27 July 2017, 14:21 IST
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Saturday meeting with Rahul Gandhi proved to be the final nail in the coffin of the grand alliance in the state.

During his 40-minute meeting with Kumar, Rahul made it known to him that action could not be taken against Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav merely on the basis of a FIR lodged in connection with the railway hotel corruption case.

Kumar's reminders to Rahul about his own strong anti-corruption stance that led to the stalling on an Ordinance to protect convicted politicians in 2013 failed to move the Congress leader.

Kumar is learnt to have told him that he did not want the grand alliance to be like UPA-II – where allies were riddled with corruption allegations with the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh citing “coalition compulsions” as an excuse for inaction.

Kumar was desperately hoping that the Congress would rein in an aggressive RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, who was keen to see his son Tejashwi in the chief minister's chair.

The Bihar Chief Minister, who had a direct line with the top Congress leadership, made his irritation with them known when he chose to inform AICC General Secretary C P Joshi about his decision to quit that too at the last minute.

Joshi's made feeble attempts to dissuade Kumar urging him to speak to the Congress President or the vice president before taking precipitate action. But, Kumar had already taken the decision to walk out of the alliance and was almost at the gates of the Raj Bhawan to hand over his resignation to the Governor.
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(Published 27 July 2017, 14:17 IST)

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