NEW DELHI: “I am now back. And, I will not go anywhere henceforth … ,” Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday made yet another effort to prove his allegiance to the BJP-led NDA in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.At a rally in Purnea, Nitish Kumar, who has earned the dubious distinction of being called the “Paltu Ram” of Bihar politics, repeated his defence for past political flip-flops by blaming his party for making him switch sides. “It was the JD(U)-BJP combine which had formed a government in Bihar, for the first time, in November, 2005. For one or two times, I went to the other side, upon prodding of some of my own party colleagues, one of whom is sitting here,” said Kumar, pointing towards Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’, whom he replaced as the party’s national president nearly two years ago.Also read: Is BJP using Chirag Paswan to checkmate chief minister Nitish Kumar?”But, that is a thing of the past. I could never be comfortable with those people. They always indulged in mischief when we shared power … I am now back. And, I will not go anywhere henceforth,” said the JD(U) supremo, evoking a smile and applause from the PM.Ever since the Bihar chief minister has returned to the NDA fold ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he has been trying hard to dispel his “Paltu Ram” image and prove his unwavering commitment to the BJP-led NDA. This was the second time in the last 5 months that Nitish Kumar had made this “confession and assertion” in the presence of the Prime Minister.
Earlier in May this year, sharing the stage with PM Modi during a rally in Madhubani, Nitish Kumar had 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 CM? It was the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.” During that rally also, Nitish had blamed Lalan Singh for making him go astray and had spoken about RJD doing some mischief.So, why is Nitish reiterating his allegiance to NDA again and again?Also read: Who is Chirag Paswan targeting – opposition or Nitish Kumar?Nitish, who is the longest serving chief minister of Bihar, thanks to his political manoeuvres, has dumped the BJP twice in the past – first in 2014 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections then and again in 2022 when he accused the saffron party of trying to break his JD(U). During his second stint with the opposition parties, Nitish had played a key role in forming the INDIA bloc to challenge the BJP. Nitish, who had been the undisputed leader of NDA for almost two decades, saw his fortunes dip drastically in the 2020 assembly elections. For the first time, his party JD(U) was reduced to being the junior partner in the coalition as it won just43 seats while the BJP scored an impressive 74, one less than the RJD. Despite the huge gap in numbers, the BJP decided to continue with Nitish as the chief minister. Five years back, it was LJP chief Chirag Paswan, who had inflicted maximum damage to Nitish by walking out of NDA and strategically fielding candidates against JD(U) candidates. This time around Chirag is part of NDA in Bihar.Perhaps for the first time, Nitish is approaching elections with the odds stacked against him. There will be immense pressure on JD(U) during the seat-sharing talks if the yardstick is 2020 performance. Secondly, there have been several media reports around Nitish Kumar’s health with the opposition leaders questioning his ability to lead the state.However, despite all these odds, Nitish continues to be an important factor in state politics. His popularity, especially amongst the women voters, is a huge advantage for any alliance that has him. Also, the caste survey in the state, which was carried out by Nitish when he was in government with the RJD, has shown that EBCs, a bloc that he claims to represent, are the largest chunk in the state politics.Clearly, the BJP can ill afford to lose Nitish ahead of elections even as it would want the JD(U) chief to recognise the saffron party’s growth in Bihar. The BJP which has all along played second fiddle to Nitish in the state, would perhaps this time want to lead the government as the senior partner. Already, there are intense speculations on whether the BJP will formally declare him the chief minister face ahead of polls. Surrounded by all these uncertainties, Nitish Kumar would not want his detractors within the NDA to cite his “Paltu Ram” image to reduce his dominance in the alliance in the next assembly elections.(With inputs from agencies) Go to Source
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