Patna: People were left stunned when earlier this year, Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s longest serving chief minister, jettisoned his JD(U) party’s larger partner in power – the BJP – with deft maneuvering forming a new alliance with his rivals in the RJD as well as the centrist Congress and a Left bloc led by CPIML (L).
Proving wrong those who thought he was looking forward to retirement, the 71-year-old politician is now back in the reckoning for a possible “national role”, positioning himself as a champion of the cause of a “united opposition” which could take on the Narendra Modi juggernaut in the next Lok Sabha elections.
The wily leader, who seems to have neither forgotten nor forgiven any slight by the ruling dispensation at the Centre, pulled the plug on the alliance with BJP shortly after having supported the NDA in the Presidential and Vice Presidential elections, in a manner reminiscent of the adage that revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.
Before calling off…
