Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge Calls Nitish Kumar’s Move ‘Pre-Planned’

On Sunday, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that JD(U) Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had kept the INDIA bloc in the dark about his decision to leave the Mahagathbandhan and join the NDA, calling it a “pre-planned” move. The Congress President claimed in an interview with ANI that the JD(U) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “planned” to split the INDIA bloc because such choices cannot be made quickly.

Mallikarjun Kharge: Nitish Kumar left to break INDI Alliance

“Such decisions can not be taken in a hurry…This shows that it was all pre-planned. To break the INDIA alliance they (BJP-JD(U)) planned all this… He (Nitish Kumar) kept us in the dark, he kept Lalu Yadav in the dark,” Mr Kharge said.

The JDU leader Nitish Kumar’s decision to break with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, led by Lalu Prasad Yadav, in order to reestablish his alliance with the BJP, comes months before the INDIA bloc faces the formidable BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, and represents a significant blow to the party.

Following his split from the BJP in 2022, Nitish Kumar spearheaded the effort to bring the opposition forces together to jointly challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling party in the national election.

Nitish Kumar joined NDA

In Raj Bhawan, Patna, Nitish Kumar took the oath of office as Bihar’s chief minister for the ninth time. This time, he switched sides, this time siding with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by the BJP. Nitish Kumar had jumped ship for the second time in two years, his fifth time in a little over a decade, and before that, he had been chief minister nine times.

Six other ministers, including Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Santosh Kumar Suman, Shrawan Kumar, and others, as well as two BJP deputy chief ministers, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, also took the oath today.

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Nitish Kumar and Bihar

Nitish made his debut as chief minister in 2000, having run an opposition campaign against the ‘Jungle Raaj’ of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. He has served as Bihar’s chief minister eight times so far. After a 17-year alliance, Nitish parted ways with the NDA in 2013 when Narendra Modi was declared the BJP’s nominee for prime minister.

After expressing his disapproval of Modi’s choice as the PM face to the BJP, Kumar quit the alliance when the BJP refused to reverse its decision. Nitish rejoined the RJD and Congress in 2015 and formed a grand alliance with them in 2017. In 2017, he left the grand alliance, claiming the RJD was stifling state governance and engaging in corruption.