'Like aaya Ram, gaya Ram...' Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge on Nitish Kumar's resignation

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge  took a jibe at Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar after he resigned as the Bihar Chief Minister and stated, "'Aaya Ram-Gaya Ram' is a nickname for many people in the country."

Addressing the media, Kharge said, "Earlier he and us were fighting together. When I talked to Lalu Ji and Tejashwi, they also said that Nitish is going. If he wanted to stay, he would have stayed but he wants to go."

"That's why we already knew this, but to keep the India Alliance intact, if we say something wrong, the wrong message will be sent. This information was already given to us by Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav. Today that came true. There are many people in the country like 'Aaya Ram-Gaya Ram'," he added.

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The statement comes after Janata Dal (United) national president Nitish Kumar arrived at the Raj Bhavan in Patna and handed over his resignation to Governor Rajendra Arlekar on Sunday.

This comes amid intense speculation that Nitish might re-join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ending the 'Mahagathbandhan' regime in the state.

Meanwhile, justifying the reason for ending the 18-month alliance with RJD and Congress, Nitish Kumar said "nothing was right". "This situation came because not everything was alright...I was getting views from everyone. I listened to all of them. Today, the government has been dissolved," Nitish Kumar told reporters.

There are 243 MLAs in the Bihar Assembly, including 79 MLAs from the RJD, 78 from the BJP, 45 from the JD(U), 19 from the Congress, 12 from the CPI (M-L), 2 from each of the CPI and M, and 4 from the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular). Two further seats are held by an Independent and the AIMIM.

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