Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is looking for a fifth consecutive term in office, on Sunday asserted that he will “remain” in the NDA, crediting the BJP for his rise to power.
Mr Kumar, the JD(U) supremo, reiterated the stand while addressing the inaugural ceremony of Khelo India Youth Games, in which thousands of young athletes from across the country are participating.
The longest-serving CM, who has changed partners several times in the last decade, said, “I am going to remain here always. My party made me go here and there a couple of times earlier. But this is not going to happen again. Who made me (the CM)? It was late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”
Notably, Mr Kumar has been a BJP ally since the mid-1990s, but he parted ways in 2013, following dissatisfaction with Narendra Modi, his then Gujarat counterpart, gaining national prominence.
Though his party got drubbed in the Lok Sabha polls a year later, and Narendra Modi became the prime minister, Mr Kumar succeeded in holding his ground, thanks to a short-lived alliance with arch rival Lalu Prasad, the RJD president, whom he dumped in 2017 to return to the NDA.
The alliance continued till 2022, when Mr Kumar joined hands with the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, vowing to defeat the BJP, accusing the former ally of having tried to split the JD(U).
However, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls last year, the septuagenarian returned to the NDA, abandoning the INDIA bloc he had helped form by bringing together parties that were opposed to the BJP.
Mr Kishor and Mr Singh alleged that contractors have “hijacked” the JD(U).
Mr Kishor called on JD(U) workers to desert the “sinking ship”, claiming that it was being run by “five contractors” rather than seasoned politicians.
The Jan Suraaj Party founder alleged that contractors with no political background make key decisions in the JD(U) and the state government.
“Nitish Kumar neither runs the party nor the government. Ask the five people running JD(U) to name even a district president of their party – they won’t be able to answer,” he claimed.
Tejashwi Yadav also took a jab at CM Nitish over his recent remark that there was nothing in Bihar before 2005.
In response, Tejashwi said, “2005 has frozen in Nitish Kumar’s mind. Before that, the voices of the people were heard, and bureaucracy didn’t dominate. Retired chief ministers and officers didn’t run Bihar.”
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