The break of the grand alliance in Bihar ended on a sour note with the young Yadav brothers of Bihar constantly stirring up some or other controversy on the bigwigs. However, the move seemed to go well in court for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. While addressing a crowd Nitish Kumar claimed that he knew of the short-lived alliance “from the very beginning”. He said that he knew it would not last for more than a year-and-a-half, but did his best to carry it on. Ultimately it fell off and disintegrated last year.
Nitish Kumar headed The Grand Alliance ministry. It eventually collapsed in July last year with chief minister’s resignation over graft charge on the Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.
Post the breakup Kumar found thrust in the hands of BJP and joined to form another coalition government in Bihar.
“The very day the Mahagathbandhan government was installed, I had said to those close to me that this was not going to last for more than a year-and-a-half. I knew it from the very beginning. I still managed to carry on for 20 months,” the JD(U) chief told reporters here on the sidelines of his weekly “Lok Samvad” (public interaction) programme.
The Mahagathbandhan fallout had severely back-lashed because of the allegations of “betrayal of mandate” by the RJD and the Congress. Both the parties were the key constituents.
Both Lalu and Nitish joined had joined hands after the 2014 Lok Sabha to form The Grand Alliance. BJP was automatically put up in the best ever electoral performance. The entire electoral sea had a strong wave in favour of Narendra Modi.
Kumar’s statement on the premonition of the short-lived alliance has invited flak from former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav. He had raised a rebellious banner to revolt when the Bihar chief minister joined hands with the BJP.
Sharad Yadav in his talk to a news channel had said, “If he (Kumar) knew that the alliance was not going to last, why did he agree for such a tie-up in the first place. It is an illogical thing to say. He is suffering from pangs of guilt for his volte-face and trying to justify his actions by such utterances.” Yadav comes out as equally agitated and disqualified from the Rajya Sabha a couple of months ago. His disqualification was the result of an application by the JD(U).
Tejashwi Yadav took to Twitter to purge out his emotions on the issue. He said, “This is what I have been saying since the beginning that Tejashwi was just an excuse. Paltu chacha (turncoat uncle) had vicious plans beforehand.”