Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has decided to part ways with the BJP and will meet the state’s Governor Phagu Chauhan in a few hours from now. This morning, Nitish Kumar met his party’s legislators or MLAs amid a flurry of political activity in state capital Patna, that included meetings between leaders of the chief minister’s party the Janata Dal United and chief opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

A Nitish-BJP divorce has happened before as has a marriage with the RJD in the life cycle of Nitish Kumar’s chief ministership.

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This time, Nitish has ended the partnership with the BJP amid disquiet over what the JD(U) alleges are Union Minister Amit Shah‘s attempts to “control” the dynamics of the relationship by weakening the JD(U).

Nitish Kumar’s MLAs do not want a midterm election and numbers in the state assembly necessitate that he find new partners to continue governing the state. The RJD has said it is happy to provide that support in order to strengthen its fight against the BJP and its dominance of national and state politics.

Nitish Kumar is expected to meet Bihar’s governor at 4 pm today and is unlikely to resign. Instead, he would seek to replace BJP ministers in his government with those of other parties that join hands with him, news agency Press Trust of India quoted JD(U) sources as saying.

RJD legislators also met party leader Tejashwi Yadav today at his mother Rabri Devi’s Circular Road bungalow, not far from Nitish Kumar’s residence, where leaders of the JD(U) have gathered.

Nitish Kumar’s party has only 43 MLAs in the 243-seat Bihar assembly. He needs at least 122 MLAs in his corner to continue to be Chief Minister. The split with the BJP and smaller allies will cost him 82 seats. To make up the deficit, he will need the support of the RJD, which brings to the table its allies, the Congress and the Left parties. The RJD has 79 seats in the Bihar assembly, the Congress has 19 and the Left has 16.

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Nitish Kumar’s decision today ends a JD(U)-BJP partnership that he entered to continue in the chief minister’s post after he dumped the RJD and its allies – together called the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance in 2017.

He had earlier dumped the BJP to contest elections in partnership with the RJD-led alliance in 2015. Each time his partners have let him be chief minister despite winning fewer seats.