JDU officially walks out of NDA as Bihar CM Nitish Kumar takes yet another U-turn

For the umpteenth time in his political career, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took a U-turn as JDU officially walked out of NDA on Tuesday. As per sources, this was decided in a meeting of MLAs, MLCs and MPs which took place at Kumar's residence. He reportedly told the JDU lawmakers that BJP humiliated them by trying to break the party at the behest of former Union Minister RCP Singh. Many MLAs and MLCs also complained that BJP is trying to weaken their party since 2020 and indirectly referred to Chirag Paswan's example. 

This development paves the way for JDU to form a government with RJD, Congress and the Left. He will meet Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan at 4 pm and resign as the CM. Sources revealed that Kumar is eyeing the possibility of being the opposition candidate for the Prime Minister's post in 2024. 

What led to the split? 

The 2020 Bihar Assembly election turned out to be a nail-biting contest with NDA emerging victorious in 125 seats as against the 110 seats won by the Mahagatbandhan. BJP, RJD, JDU, and Congress won 74, 75, 43, and 19 seats respectively. LJP is believed to have damaged JDU's prospects in 32 seats despite bagging a solitary seat. As BJP won more seats than JDU for the first time in a Bihar Assembly election, it was perceived that JDU's clout in the alliance diminished. The first sign of the BJP's assertion came to the fore when two of its 4-time MLAs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers.

In the past few months, BJP and JDU have been at loggerheads on a plethora of issues including the liquor ban, the Agnipath scheme and the law and order situation.  The latest flashpoint was JDU's allegations against its own leader RCP Singh who was a part of the Union Cabinet till July 6. Amid speculation about Singh's perceived closeness to BJP, JDU leveled corruption allegations against him and hinted that BJP was planning to use him like Chirag Paswan to orchestrate its downfall. 

Nitish Kumar's volte-face

Before forming the Janata Dal (United), he was a part of the Janata Party, Samata Party and the Janata Dal. Barring for a short period between May 2014- February 2015, Nitish Kumar has remained the CM of Bihar since November 2005. While his party has never won a simply majority of its own, it has been a part of the government owing to strategic alliances. Though it formed the government in Bihar in 2005 and 2010 in an alliance with BJP, it dumped the saffron party in June 2013 objecting to Narendra Modi being elevated as the PM face of NDA.

At that juncture, Kumar cleared the floor test with the support of Congress MLAs. Contesting as a part of Mahagatbandhan in the 2015 Assembly polls, JDU won 71 seats. Even though RJD had 80 legislators, it allowed Kumar to become the CM. However, he resigned on July 26, 2017, citing irreconcilable differences with RJD over corruption allegations against Tejashwi Yadav and joined hands with its former ally BJP. Thereafter, he not only managed to secure 5 extra seats for JDU in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls but also retained his position as the CM in 2020 despite BJP having more seats.