Take a look at Nitish Kumar's partner-swapping spree in his political marriage of convenience
Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar Tuesday apparently took the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) off-guard by stripping it off power by dumping the saffron MLAs in the Opposition bench, restitching the severed ties with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress.
Nitish, 71, first quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, headed to the Governor House to resign as the Chief Minister and then joined hands with Lalu's son Tejashwi to launch the Grand Alliance 2.0.
Nitish Kumar along with Tejashwi Yadav outside Raj Bhawan in Patna/ Image credit: UNI
Nitish's political somersault is neither surprising to the politically-aware audience nor to the BJP of course.
In fact, Nitish's Tuesday drama is almost a repeat telecast of one evening in 2017 when he unsubscribed the Grand Alliance 1.0 citing corruption allegations against Tejashwi to only enter into an alliance with the BJP within a few hours.
PM Modi and Nitish Kumar | Image Credit: UNI
Even prior to 2017, Nitish had hit the headlines for political long jumps.
Take a look at them...
2013: Nitish, who became the Chief Minister for the first time in an alliance with Atal Bihari Vajpayee's BJP back in 2000, broke ties with the saffron camp training guns at now Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the latter's dream to become the Prime Minister will "remain unfulfilled".
2014: After his party was decimated by the Modi wave in the Lok Sabha polls, Nitish signed off as the Chief Minister but took the responsibility back again a year later.
2015: To stop Modi from running his in-form political chariot in his field, Nitish joined hands with arch-rival Lalu's RJD and Congress. Indeed, the senior politician, who is much credited for Bihar's little turnaround, had wrested power.
2017: But the bonhomie with the RJD and Congress was meant for only two years roughly as Nitish once again found his old friend BJP comfortable to run the government. He was again back as the Chief Minister but with a different ally.
2022: In less than two years after winning back the Chief Minister's chair with due credit to BJP's impressive performance, Nitish finds new adventure with old friends, RJD and Congress.
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