INDIA alliance in disarray? Nitish Kumar won't join Rahul Gandhi's Yatra in Bihar: Report

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was a key architect of the INDIA alliance, will not join the Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' in the state. NDTV reported that last evening, Congress' legislature party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan extended an invitation to Nitish Kumar but the chief minister was non-committal about his participation.

Nitish Kumar's not joining the yatra would be a major setback for the Congress. Just on Wednesday, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee said she won't join the yatra as she was not informed about it and that she had scheduled some meetings in North Bengal. She also announced that TMC will go solo in Bengal.

Not just TMC, Bhagwant Mann also declared the AAP would contest on all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and there won't be any seat-sharing with Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 

Also read: Trouble mounts for INDIA bloc as Nitish Kumar launches veiled attack at Congress: 'Karpoori didn't promote his family'

With TMC and AAP ruling out any seat-sharing in two states, the oppositon parties will now have tough time to put back the INDIA alliance on track. After Mamata, Nitish has dealth a severe blow to Congress and the INDIA alliance. 

Buzz has also intensified that Nitish may quit the alliance and return to NDA. 

On Wednesday, former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi claimed that Nitish would break ties with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) after January 25. "Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will snap ties with RJD after January 25. Maine kaha tha khela hoga aur khela ho gaya (I had said that game will happen, it has happened)," he said.

In a tweet a day before, Manjhi, who is currently with the NDA, wrote in a cryptic post: "Khela Hobe."