PATNA/NEW DELHI: Taking oath for the ninth time after a dramatic volte-face, ditching the Mahagathbandhan and the opposition bloc INDIA and forming a new government with the BJP, which he had dumped less than 18 months ago.

Nitish’s own record of switching sides without any accountability towards his ideological inclinations has only cemented the impression of the CM leading the pack of “paltu rams” of Indian politics.
After surprising everyone with his ‘political somersault’, JDU chief Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the ninth time at Raj Bhavan on Sunday.Nitish Kumar decided to quit this Mahagathbandhan and return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The decision came just ahead of the Lok Sabha Election 2024. This move is expected to impact the Opposition INDIA bloc, of which Nitish Kumar was a key member. No leader of Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the single-largest party in the Bihar assembly, was present at the oath-taking ceremony.
Kumar told reporters, “We are going to stay together now.” “You all know how I came to this (Mahagathbandhan) alliance and also how I worked to bring together so many parties. But of late things were not working well. It was not going down well with those in my party as well,” Nitish Kumar, 72, said.
“I have been working hard to make a successful, meaningful (INDIA) alliance, but no one else (in the alliance) has been doing anything.Sources, though, said Mr Kumar has been upset over the lack of clarity in INDIA bloc’s poll preparations and being passed over as a possible Prime Ministerial candidate. The delays to seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha polls had been a further aggravation.Nitish Kumar had indicated he was not happy with the way things were going in the Mahagathbandhan in the state as well as the newly formed Opposition bloc INDIA.
When asked about outgoing Deputy Chief Minister and Lalu Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav’s comment that “JD(U) will be finished in 2024”, Nitish Kumar said his party will work for the development and progress of the state.
Nitish Kumar is back to where he was in July 2022 – with the BJP. He is still the Chief Minister of Bihar, though he has got two new deputies, both from the BJP, instead of his long-time friend Sushil Kumar Modi, who has moved on as a Rajya Sabha MP after August 2022 when Nitish Kumar ditched the BJP and rejoined the Mahagathbandhan.
This is also the fifth time in a decade the 72-year-old has changed camp — the frequency of the process having earned him the pejorative “Paltu Kumar”.
Mr Kumar had parted company with the BJP last in 2022. At the time, the Chief Minister was concerned that the BJP could engineer a split in his Janata Dal United as they did in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena.
BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha have been appointed as Deputy Chief Ministers. “I was with them (NDA) earlier too. We went on different paths, but now we are together and will remain so. Today, eight people have taken oath as ministers; the rest will take oath soon. Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha have been appointed Deputy Chief Ministers,” Nitish Kumar told reporters.”… We will keep doing the same, nothing else. Tejashwi was not doing anything. Now I came back to where I was (NDA) and now there is no question of going anywhere else,” he added.
Meanwhile, An old video of Nitish Kumar’s remarks on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) resurfaced on Sunday as the Janata Dal (United) chief junked the Mahagathbandhan in the state to return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). In the video, Nitish Kumar, with his deputy and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav standing next to him, is heard saying: “Mar jana qubool hai, unke saath jana humko kabhi qubool nahi hai, ye acchi tarah samajh lijiye.” [Rough translation: Dying is acceptable, going with them is never acceptable to us, understand this]
Congratulating Nitish Kumar and his two deputies, PMr Narendra Modi said the newly sworn-in National  democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar will leave no stone unturned for the state’s development and to fulfil people’s aspirations.
(With Inputs from Vikas Verma, Patna Bureau).

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