The BJP-JD(U) alliance in Bihar came to an end on Tuesday after Nitish Kumar stepped down as the chief minister amid reports of the JD(U) joining hands with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Kumar said he discussed the split from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with his party members and after reaching the conclusion approached the Governor to submit his resignation. Kumar along with RJD's Tejashwi Yadav reached the Raj Bhawan in Patna to meet the Governor and stake claim to form the government.
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While the political upheaval in Bihar may look like other alliances splitting in parts of country--Maharashtra being the recent-most example--Kumar is not new to breaking old alliances to forge new political fronts. The six-time chief minister of Bihar has a history of political flip-flops.
Here's a list of Kumar breaking old alliances and making new ones:
2020 Assembly Polls
For the 2020 Assembly polls, the JD(U) stood by its old-time friend and ally, BJP to contest the elections. The coalition front won the polls. The Mahagathbandhan of Congress and the RJD were unsuccessful. Two years later, the signs of a rift in the alliance culminated into breaking away from the NDA alliance as Kumar looks ahead to join hands with its brief Mahagathbandhan ally RJD.
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The BJP is now slamming Kumar for the move and have called him 'opportunistic'. "We fought the 2020 polls together under NDA, the mandate was for JD(U) and BJP. We won more seats, despite that Nitish Kumar was made the Chief Minister. Whatever happened today is a betrayal of Bihar's people & the BJP," BJP's Bihar unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal said.
1994 parting ways with Laloo
In 1990 when Laloo Prasad Yadav became the chief minister of Bihar for the first time, Kumar was dubbed to be his Chanakya. However, tensions brewed over time between the two, reportedly over caste issues owing to Laloo's pro-Yadav stand. He resigned from the Janata Dal and formed the Samta Party with George Fernandes.
Breaking away from BJP in 2013
In 2013, just one year before the BJP would win the parliamentary elections with a thumping majority, Kumar decided to part ways with the BJP. This, it was believed, was his reaction to the appointment of Narendra Modi as the chairman of the BJP's Lok Sabha election campaign committee.
2015 split of 'Mahagathbandhan'
In 2015, Kumar's JD(U) forged an alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar to take on the BJP which was fresh from its mammoth victory of parliamentary elections the previous year. The alliance swept the polls with a huge majority, winning 178 out of 243 seats. However, the ship got wobbly and JD(U) decided to part ways with its alliance partners in 2017. The fissures in the alliance had been visible for quite sometime when the JD(U) praised the BJP government's demonetisation move in 2016, while other alliance partners heavily criticsed it. It also supported the BJP's president candidate Ramnath Kovind then, much to the displeasure of the RJD and Congress.
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The final nail in the coffin was a CBI probe against Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav in connection with the land for hotels scam case. Tejashwi was also the deputy chief minister in the alliance government then. Kumar resigned citing "irreconcilable differences" with his alliance partner. Within 24 hours of his resignation, he took oath as the chief minister again and rekindled the old alliance with the saffron party.