CHAMELEON CM
So yesterday, once again CM of Bihar Nitish Kumar changed his colour and again took the oath as CM of State for the record 9th time.
Nitish Kumar’s political journey started in the 1980s. That time he was associated with the Janata Dal, and helped Lalu Prasad in becoming the CM of Bihar. In the 1990s he turned against Lalu Prasad and formed his political party known as Samata Party. He joined NDA government at centre in 1998. In the year 2000 he returned to State politics, and his various stints of becoming Chief Minister of Bihar state started from that year.
- He first took the oath as CM of Bihar on 3rd March 2020 with the support of the BJP. But his government lasted only for 7 days.
- On 24th November 2005, he again became CM of Bihar with the support of the BJP, and this time his government lasted for 5 years.
- On 26 November 2010, he again formed the government with the support of the BJP.
- He snapped the ties with the BJP in November 2013, after Narendra Modi was announced as BJP’s candidate for the PM’s post. He resigned as CM in May 2014, after his party JD(U)’s debacle in the Lok Sabha poll. Then Jiten Ram Manjhi of JD(U) became CM, but on 25th Feb 2015 he replaced Manjhi and again became CM of Bihar.
- After the state elections, he again became the CM on 20th Nov 2015, with the support of Lalu Prasad’s party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and this government lasted for 20 months.
- On 27th July 2017, he was again sworn in as CM with BJP’s support, and this time his tenure lasted for about 3 years and 3 months.
- After the state elections which he fought in alliance with BJP, he once again took the oath of CM on 16th Nov 2020, and this time his government lasted for 21 months.
- On 10th August 2022 he again quit NDA and became CM with the support of RJD, Congress, and Left.
- Lastly yesterday he severed ties with RJD and again took the oath of CM with NDA’s support.
So in my opinion he is the real chameleon of Indian politics, who has become CM of Bihar for the 9th time by switching his loyalty to different political parties and alliances. Friends, please note that his party JD(U) (earlier Samata party) had never been a leading party in any alliance. The leading parties in alliance with him are always BJP and RJD, who had maximum seats in the state assembly in the alliance.
Now what prompted him this time to go back to NDA’s fold?
There could have been many reasons for him to switch is loyalty, but in my opinion here are some of the events that led him to take this action:
1 From the early part of last year he was at the forefront of forming the opposition unity to fight the next general election unitedly as one opposition alliance against BJP, so as not to split opposition parties’ votes.
2 Some of the opposition parties started projecting Nitish Kumar as the PM face of the united opposition.
3 He is one of the key politicians who made an effort to form the INDI Alliance, where more than 25 political parties came together to fight the next general elections, the prominent parties were Congress, TMC, SP, AAP, DMK, JD(U), the Left parties, BRS, Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar) and many smaller regional parties.
4 As he was being projected as the leader of the INDI alliance on the national stage, Lalu Prasad started the campaign for his son to be the next CM of Bihar after Nitish leaves state politics, and this campaign was gaining momentum in RJD’s circle and was getting support from other state-level politicians who were not happy with Nitish’s way of functioning.
5 After the results of state elections in MP, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, and Telengana, the cracks started appearing in the INDI alliance as the defeat of Congress in 3 out of 4 states, because before the elections Congress started acting in a manner where the demands of other parties regarding seat sharing was ignored.
6 In the meeting of the INDI alliance in December 2023, the various parties of the alliance agreed on Mallikaarjun Khadge as the main Conveynor of the alliance, and Nitish was ignored for any prominent post in the alliance.
7 Further crack in the INDI alliance became visible after Mamta Banerjee, the chief of TMC announced that they will not share seats with Congress in West Bengal for the coming Lok Sabha elections, and similarly, AAP refused to share seats with anyone in the states of Punjab and Haryana.
8 With these happenings, Nitish must have realised that he is not getting his due in national politics and RJD is trying to sideline him in Bihar as Lalu Prasad wants his son to be the next CM of Bihar, and therefore he must have sent feelers to the top brass of BJP that he is willing to switch side and come back to NDA’s fold.
9 Now BJP must have agreed, because they must have thought with Nitish in NDA, the chances of corrupt Lalu’s son becoming CM of Bihar will be reduced in the near future, as the Bihar State’s election is almost 22 months away. And secondly, Nitish’s exit from the INDI alliance will be a big jolt to the alliance, which is already cracking up.
Friends, what are your views on this matter, please write in the comments column at the end of the blog.
Waiting for your feedback.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
29th January 2023