More than 125 legislators of the dissolved Bihar assembly, including those from the National Democratic Alliance, breakaway Lok Janshakti Party and independents, who had extended support for a government under Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar, are expected to parade before President A P J Abdul Kalam in Delhi on June 10.
"The programme is final and we have asked for an appointment. Once we get the nod from Rashtrapati Bhavan, the MLAs would parade before the President to convince him that we had the required numbers to form the government. But the Centre, on the basis of an unsubstantiated report from Bihar Governor Buta Singh, conspired to dissolve the assembly to deprive us of the opportunity to stake our claim to form government," state NDA convenor Nand Kishore Yadav said.
- Read all about the Bihar crisis
Breakaway LJP MLA Munna Shukla, who had played a prominent role when the rebel LJP MLAs went to Jharkhand to discuss formation of government under Kumar, independent MLA from Sonebarsa in Saharsa district Kishore Kumar Munna and expelled state LJP president Narendra Singh confirmed the report.
Yadav said Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Kishenchand Advani and NDA convenor George Fernandes are likely to accompany the MLAs. There was some minor difference in the statement of these leaders as to how many MLAs would parade before the President, but all of them asserted it would not be less than 125, three more than the magic figure of 122 in the 243-member assembly that was required to form the government.
