Nitish Kumar says he regrets his alliances with the RJD-Congress combine, whom he accused of “indulging in mischief when we shared power”. After at least four flip-flops in about 10 years, and looking to stay chief minister of Bihar after the election this year too, Nitish Kumar on Monday again assured PM Narendra Modi of loyalty, saying the JDU-BJP alliance will stay in place.
Using a light-hearted tone, Nitish said he went to the “other side” only “upon prodding of some of my own party colleagues, one of whom is sitting here”, pointing towards union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’, whom he replaced as JDU’s national president about two years ago. This evoked a smile and applause from PM Modi, at a rally in Purnea. Nitish had made similar statement last year too. On Monday, the 74-year-old veteran leader said he regretted his alliances with the RJD-Congress combine, whom he accused of “indulging in mischief when we shared power”.
“The JDU-BJP combine formed a government in Bihar, for the first time, in November 2005,” he recalled. “For one or two times, I went to the other side… But that is a thing of the past. I could never be comfortable with those people… I am now back. And, I will not go anywhere henceforth,” said the JDU supremo. Having served many years as CM of the JDU-BJP combine or NDA, he first left the alliance over the projection of Modi as PM candidate before the 2014 Lok Sabha election, citing the Gujarat riots that took place when Modi was CM.
In 2015, thus, a JDU-RJD-Congress ‘Mahagathbandhan’ or ‘grand alliance’ won Bihar in 2015. Nitish went back to the BJP-led NDA two years later, saying he could not work with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav and others. The JDU-BJP alliance won the 2020 election. By 2023, Nitish was back with the RJD-Congress, and then went back again a few months later to the NDA, where he remains as of September 15, 2025, about a month ahead of the likely start of the assembly election.
