Once Bitten, Twice Smitten

An overbearing ally, public image and prospects for 2019: the factors that prompted Nitish to swing saffron this time.

- Giridhar Jha

RIDING a high horse over probity and morality in public life, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has galloped back into the NDA camp, in a sudden but not-so-unexpected move that has left the anti-Narendra Modi alliance floundering within and outside the state.

The Janata Dal (United) stalwart resigned in a huffon July 26 after being snubbed by his alliance partner, Ras­htriya Janata Dal president Laloo Pra­sad Yadav, over his demand that ‘tainted’ deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav come clean, only to find his erst­ while ally BJP waiting for him with open arms—and a letter of uncondi­tional support—with in hours.

The 66­ year­ old leader was promptly sworn in as the chief minister for the sixth time (fourth term as an NDA leader) the very next day by acting Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, barely 15 hours after he bid goodbye to the three­ party Grand Alliance. This has brought the curtains down on the 20­ month ­old government that had come into power with a brute majority in the 2015 state assembly elections. Significantly, it also marked a happy ending to the long and curious saga of his acrimonious rela­tions with the prime minister with whom he had shared cold vibes over the past 12 years.

“It had become difficult for me to work under certain circumstances over the past 20 months,” Nitish told the media, explaining his move to quit. “I, there­ fore, decided to listen to my inner voice and put in my papers.”