STRIPPED of power in Bihar, the BJP on Wednesday staged a massive demonstration condemning the “betrayal” of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose similar volte face five years ago had helped it join the Government through the proverbial “back door”.

The ‘Maha Dharna’ (massive demonstration) staged in front of the party office at Birchand Patel Marg was attended by all BJP MPs and MLAs from Bihar who vowed to “expose” the 71 years old JD(U) leader through agitations scheduled at district and block levels later this week.

“There is no other reason for the turnaround except his Prime Ministerial ambitions which make him envious of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He should first try to win a State election on his own, without using an alliance as a crutch”, said Union minister Giriraj Singh, the Chief Minister’s best known detractor in the State.

NDA’s strength in RS reduces further as JD(U) leaves: BJP-LED NDA’s strength further reduced in the Rajya Sabha after Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) left the alliance and formed a Government in Bihar with RJD and others.

Kumar’s JD(U) has five members in the House, including Vice-Chairman Harivansh.

The strength of Rajya Sabha is 237 and there are eight vacancies which include four from Jammu and Kashmir, one from Tripura and three to be nominated. The halfway mark is 119 in the House and the ruling NDA strength was 114, which includes five nominated MPs, one independent and five JD(U). The NDA did not have a majority when Kumar’s JD(U) was part of the alliance. After the JD(U) left the alliance, the NDA’s number was reduced to 109 from 114. Now the NDA is 10 short of the halfway mark.

Mah has been avenged, says Cong in Bihar: THE Congress in Bihar feels BJP’s downfall in the State was just comeuppance for its attempts to oust the grand old party from national politics and “engineering defections” in Maharashtra. Lashing out at the BJP camp, Bihar Congress in-charge Bhakta Charan Das on Wednesday quipped that “BJP-mukt Bihar” is the new message that has been sent out to people.