Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has resigned a day after his party lost the national election.
Mr Kumar's Janata Dal United won just two of Bihar's 40 seats in the polls that saw his arch enemy Narendra Modi win a decisive mandate to be the next Prime Minister.
Mr Kumar is expected to address the media shortly. Reports suggest he has also recommended the dissolution of the state assembly.
His resignation may precipitate snap polls in the state that is due for assembly elections in November next year.
Mr Kumar's government was in a minority in the Bihar assembly and there was speculation the dissent within his party will grow, with support from the opposition.
On Friday, as the dismal results poured in, six of his ministers did not show up for a cabinet meeting.
Mr Kumar's defeat is seen by many as the fallout of his decision to snap ties with 17-year-old ally BJP last year over Mr Modi's elevation, a move that seems to have backfired spectacularly.
The BJP won a landslide victory with 282 seats in the 543 member Parliament; the party won over 333 seats with its allies.
Yesterday, he had said, "I respect the mandate of the people."
After his party's crushing defeat, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, his former deputy, had said, "Nitish Kumar should take moral responsibility and resign. He has lost the confidence of the people."
On the back of a hugely popular BJP-JD(U) government that was in power in Bihar between 2004 and 2009, Nitish Kumar's party had won 20 of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats. Alliance partners BJP won a further 12.
Source: NDTV.com
Mr Kumar's Janata Dal United won just two of Bihar's 40 seats in the polls that saw his arch enemy Narendra Modi win a decisive mandate to be the next Prime Minister.
Mr Kumar is expected to address the media shortly. Reports suggest he has also recommended the dissolution of the state assembly.
His resignation may precipitate snap polls in the state that is due for assembly elections in November next year.
Mr Kumar's government was in a minority in the Bihar assembly and there was speculation the dissent within his party will grow, with support from the opposition.
On Friday, as the dismal results poured in, six of his ministers did not show up for a cabinet meeting.
Mr Kumar's defeat is seen by many as the fallout of his decision to snap ties with 17-year-old ally BJP last year over Mr Modi's elevation, a move that seems to have backfired spectacularly.
The BJP won a landslide victory with 282 seats in the 543 member Parliament; the party won over 333 seats with its allies.
Yesterday, he had said, "I respect the mandate of the people."
After his party's crushing defeat, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, his former deputy, had said, "Nitish Kumar should take moral responsibility and resign. He has lost the confidence of the people."
On the back of a hugely popular BJP-JD(U) government that was in power in Bihar between 2004 and 2009, Nitish Kumar's party had won 20 of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats. Alliance partners BJP won a further 12.
Source: NDTV.com
What Are the Chances ?
ReplyDeleteOver the past few weeks , we saw many surveys re: which political party will win how many Lok Sabha seats
These included , Times Now-ORG / CNN-IBN-CSDS / Headlines Today - Cicero / ABP News-Nielsen / News 24 - Today's Chanakya / Cvoter - India TV etc
Although , " Today's Chanakya " came closest to predicting the number of seats that NDA might win , others too were fairly accurate
Using statistical techniques , they computed the Chance ( Probability ) for each party , based on asking a few thousands voters ( sample ) , their preferences
Now is the time to survey the voters , once again , as to what do they believe , when it comes to BJP fulfilling its poll promises
For each item ( of BJP's poll manifesto ) , what is the perceived chance ( probability ) that the BJP Government will fulfill / deliver on its promises ? Will it be 10 % - 50 % - 100 % ?
The outcome will determine BJP's credibility amongst voters , vis-a-vis , its poll promises
It may be even an eye-opener for BJP !
If conducted and results published by end June 2014 , such a survey might even become a " Self Fulfilling Prophesy " !
If it turns out less-than-flattering , BJP will work twice as hard to prove the pollsters wrong !
Here are the " Chances " which I attach to fulfillment of each of BJP's following poll promises , by the end of 3rd year :
* Ensure minimization of Black Money and setting up of a Task
Force ......... ( 50 % )
* Special Courts to stop hoarding and black-marketing. ( 100 %)
* Set-up a Price-Stabilization Fund.......( 100 % )
* Develop labour-intensive Manufacturing ... ( 10 % )
* Empowering youth for Self-Employment... ( 25 % )
* Transforming Employment Exchanges to Career Centers(10% )
* Eliminating corruption thru E-Governance... ( 10 % )
* Rationalization / Simplification of Tax-regime.. ( 20 % )
* Insulate intelligence agencies from political intervention and
interference..... ( 10 % )
* Strengthening physical infrastructure with expediting work on
freight and Industrial Corridors..... ( 15 % )
* Setting up Gas-Grids and National Optical Fiber Network up to
the village level....... ( 30 % )
* Quadrilateral project for Bullet Trains..... ( 5 % )
* Establishment of National E - Library..... ( 40 % )
* Implementation of National Education Policy .. ( 50 % )
* Evolving further the PPP model to PPPP model .. ( 50 % )
* Building 100 Mega-Cities................ ( 0 % )
Did I miss out any ?
Parallel with whatever the Pollsters may - or may not - do , it would be worthwhile for BJP Tech-Team , to come out with a mobile App ( to be named , " RUN - Rate Us Now " ? ), to find out what voters feel , on a 5 star scale
Or , an App that would let the voters prioritize amongst various promises
* hemen parekh ( 19 May 2014 / Mumbai )