Nitish+BJP: A New Gathbandhan

Nitish Kumar’s decision to get back with the BJP might be the end of the Opposition’s mahagathbandhan fantasies for 2019. As well as his own national ambitions

- Amitabh Srivastava

The writing was on the wall when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, fresh from a visit to New Delhi, where he attended President Ram Nath Kovind’s swearing-in ceremony, summoned the 71 legislators of the Janata Dal (United) to his 1, Anne Marg residence in Patna on the morning of July 25. The post-lunch JD(U) meeting, initially scheduled for July 26 in view of the upcoming five-day monsoon session of the state legislature, had been brought forward by a day to discuss an extraordinary situation.

Hours before, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, too, had a similar but separate meeting of his 80 MLAs at his Patna residence in which he said his son, Tejashwi Pratap Yadav, would not resign as deputy chief minister.

Nitish’s response was swift, though not unexpected. Escalating things to a flashpoint, he resigned as chief minister within hours of the RJD chief ’s afternoon press conference.

Before he put in his papers, though, Nitish called up Lalu and told him about his decision to quit. Lalu apparently suggested a rethink, but Nitish had already made up his mind.

Moments later, Nitish drove to the governor’s house and resigned. With this, the RJD-JD(U)-Congress grand alliance, stitched in 2015 ahead of the state assembly polls and one that sparked a flicker of hope in the secular camp for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, has come undone. Not just that, his possible teaming up with the BJP suggests that the Bihar CM has renounced any national ambitions.

Composed and smiling, Nitish showed no sign of indecisiveness as he walked out of the Raj Bhavan after submitting his resignation to Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi. In the brief 15-minute media interaction soon after, he described his break-up with Lalu as an unavoidable consequence of the run of play in the RJD.