The dexterous political gambit by Nitish Kumar has left the Opposition stunned as he joined hands with friend-turned-foe-turned-friend BJP. The two parties were in alliance until 2013, when Kumar walked out of the NDA fold after Narendra Modi became the prime ministerial candidate. Kumar, who was seen by the Opposition as a possible answer to Modi in 2019 amid shrinking Congress clout, seems to have accepted the popular thinking that the Modi-wave will continue even after two years.
Reportedly Kumar has backed his support to opposition’s candidate, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, for the upcoming vice-presidential poll. It’s an irony because when Kumar was a part of Mahagatbandhan he backed his support to NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind and now when he is a part of BJP he has backed his support to Congress candidate.
It is safe to say now that predictability is definitely not one of the characteristics of Nitish Kumar’s political decisions.
It will be interesting to see what BJP leaders and Bihar’s new deputy chief minister Sushil Modi feel about Kumar backing Gandhi.