Is Nitish Returning To NDA?

Most JD-U ministers favour a return to the BJP-led NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
M I Khan reports from Patna.

Bad news may be in store for the Opposition INDIA bloc.

Janata Dal-United President and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could dump INDIA and rejoin the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

This report is neither speculation nor gossip, but based on information emerging from the coterie close to Nitish Kumar.

"Nitish Kumar palti mar sakte hai, woh BJP ke saath ja sakte hai. INDIA ko dump kar sakte hai (Nitish Kumar may change sides, dump INDIA and go with the BJP)," a senior JD-U leader, who is considered close to Nitish Kumar, told this correspondent from Delhi on Saturday, January 20, 2024.

This JD-U leader confirmed that there is a possibility that Nitish Kumar may change sides any day after January 22.

"Mahagathbandhan ke andar rassa kashi hai, kutch bhi ho sakta hai. Nitish Kumar aur Lalu Yadav ek bar phir alag ho sakte hai (The ruling Mahagathbandan in Bihar is in disarray, Nitish and Lalu may split again soon)," the JD-U leader claims.

"We cannot rule out Nitish Kumar going back to the NDA," he added with a cautionary note. "But the situation can change in INDIA's favour. It all depend on Nitish Kumar's antaratma (conscience)."

Nitish Kumar ended his 17-year alliance with the BJP in 2013 and joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress in 2015, won the state assembly polls and formed the government.

In 2017, he dumped the Mahagathbandan, rejoined the NDA and contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2020 assembly polls with the BJP. In 2022, he dumped the BJP and joined hands with the RJD.

Vocal JD-U MLA Gopal Mandal on Saturday publicly cautioned Nitish Kumar not to return to the as it would finish his political credibility with the public.

Mandal, a die hard Nitish loyalist, for the first time, implored his leader not to dump the Mahagathbandan.

Amid uncertainty over Nitish Kumar's future move, one thing is certain -- all is not well between the JD-U president and Lalu.

On Friday, January 19, 2024, morning, Lalu and his younger son, Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, called on Nitish Kumar at his official residence, 1, Aney Marg in Patna, for a 45-minute discussion.

This meeting came four days after Nitish Kumar visited Lalu's residence for Dahi-Chura on Makar Sankranti. It was the first time that Nitish Kumar and Lalu had met in 2024.

According to RJD sources, Lalu-Tejashwi met Kumar a day after reports stated that the BJP had opened its door for Nitish Kumar's possible re-entry into the NDA fold. Senior BJP leader Amit Anilchandra Shah said that his party would think if any proposal came from those who left the NDA, a pointed reference to Nitish Kumar.

Sensing trouble, Lalu visited Nitish Kumar on a bitterly cold Friday morning to discuss why the chief minister was upset with the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

"Lalu reportedly assured Nitish Kumar that everything would be resolved on his terms," an informed political commentator tells this correspondent.

Senior JD-U leader and Bihar Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Saturday said misinformation was being spread over the Lalu-Nitish Kumar meeting, adding that all is well in the Mahagathbandan.

Sources inside the JD-U and RJD indicate Lok Sabha constituencies are the bone of contention between the two parties. These seats were won by JD-U candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha election in alliance with the BJP, but the RJD has staked a claim to these constituencies for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll.

The JD-U has made it clear that the party wants all the Lok Sabha seats it won in 2019.

What angered Nitish Kumar is Lalu's statement that the RJD is in no hurry to finalise seats when the JD-U stressed the need to decide the seats well in time to take on the BJP.

Most senior JD-U leaders and Bihar ministers, it is learnt, favour a return to the NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. These leaders have reportedly told Nitish Kumar that the BJP is the JD-U's natural ally while the party is not comfortable with the RJD.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com