Interviewtimes 
Bihar Cheif Nitish Kumar, an NDA ally and leader of the Janata Dal (United States), cut ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Tuesday. Nitish again allied with his political rival Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD), calling for a “Mahagathbandhan 2.0.
This isn’t the first time for Nitish to dump BJD, on 2013 Nitish had cut all the ties with BJD and had tied an alliance with RJD. But it is said that there is a huge difference between Nitish’s exit from the NDA then and now.
In 2013, Nitish Kumar left the BJP following protests against then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, but instead of resigning from the post of Chief Minister at the time, he dismissed then-Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and other BJP members from his government. At the time, the BJP alleged that the JD(U) supremo hurried him out of the NDA alliance.
However, it is quite clear that Nitish Kumar will be out of the NDA in 2022. This time, the BJP leaders were fully aware that the JD(U) supremo leader would withdraw from his NDA alliance in Bihar, but the Saffron Party forced him to withdraw from his NDA. It was very surprising that no effort were made by the BJP to persuade him.
On Monday, JD(U) sources circulated news reports that a senior BJP leader spoke with Nitish Kumar before withdrawing from the NDA alliance. However, these reports were promptly denied by the BJP. This time, the BJP did not try to convince the Chief Minister of Bihar for several reasons. The former felt that the Chief Minister of Bihar had already decided to expand his political ambitions for his national affairs and that he needed to seek help and joined RJD for his plan execution.
According to BJP, the popularity of Nitish Kumar in Bihar has dropped significantly in recent years. A senior leader of the Bihar BJP said the outcome of the 2020 Bihar state legislative elections has weakened Nitish Kumar’s hold over the people and the public now sees the BJP as an alternative party to his JD(U). The BJP leader has gone a step further by criticizing the Bihar Chief Minister, saying the latter is harming the interests of Bihar because of his political ambitions, selfishness and stubbornness. Given the future political outlook and Nitish’s stubbornness, BJP leaders made no effort to persuade Nitish Kumar to stay in the NDA alliance and save the Bihar coalition.
