Four Independents attend JD(U) meeting

Patna: Signalling that the Nitish Kumar government has the magic figure for continuing in the government without BJP, four Independent legislators are on Monday participating in the JD(U) meeting on the situation leading to severing of ties with the saffron party and the future strategy.

Independent MLAs -- Vinay Bihari, Pawan Kumar Jaiswal, Dulal Chand Goswami and Somprakash Singh -- arrived at One Anne Marg residence of the Chief Minister together in one car for the JD(U) meet, in which national president Sharad Yadav and Kumar are present. The fifth Independent, Jyoti Rashmi, from Dehri in Rohtas district, did not come for the meeting. The sixth one, Dilip Verma, has already announced siding with BJP saying "Narendra Modi is needed by the country." Kumar`s JD(U) has 118 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar House and needs support of four MLAs for getting a fresh confidence vote on June 19. Apart from JD(U)`s 118 and 6 Independents, BJP has 91 MLAs while RJD has 22, Congress 4, LJP and CPI one each in the present Assembly. When contacted, Jyoti Rashmi`s husband Pradeep Joshi, a former MLA from Dehri who fielded his wife this time because of being in jail in an illegal mining case, while talking to PTI confirmed that she has not gone for the meeting despite several calls from ruling party leaders to join them. In the JD(U) meeting held consecutively for the second day today, Yadav and Kumar are expected to tell party MPs, MLAs and office bearers, mostly those who were not part of yesterday`s deliberations about the situation forcing it to come out of the NDA and chalk out the future strategy, JD (U) sources said. PTI