Six district magistrates (DM), 28 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and 44 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers have been transferred in Bihar just days after the formation of a new government under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.
Although there is no report of these high-rank officials of being close to the ousted, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party led by Lalu Prasad Yadav, the timing of transfer raises concerns. After Mahagathbandhan government failed in Bihar, reports suggest that the decision was taken by the newly formed Cabinet. There are also rumours that in the next few months, a major bureaucratic reshuffle will happen.
On Monday, Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar said that the re-election of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in 2019 was inevitable. The remark came almost a week after he patched up with the BJP to form a new coalition government in Bihar.
“Nobody has the capacity nor is strong enough to take on PM Narendra Modi in the 2019 parliamentary elections,” Nitish Kumar had said while addressing the media.
Nitish Kumar resigned as CM last week and announced that he will return to the post by accepting the support of BJP. After breaking the grand alliance, Kumar said, “I was left with no option”. JD(U) president, Sharad Yadav and Kumar’s senior colleague, called that choice “unfortunate” on Monday.
A large number of JD(U) leaders are also not happy with Kumar’s decision. There are also speculations that Sharad Yadav could separate himself from Kumar’s decision.
