Editorial: Nitish’s Ghar Wapsi

The Bihar reversal comes amid the growing friction within the I.N.D.I.A grouping over seat-sharing arrangement

Going by the frequency of his political somersaults, Nitish Kumar’s latest switch over to the NDA, after dumping the Mahagathbandhan coalition, should not come as a surprise. A wily and inscrutable politician that he is, Nitish makes sure that the politics of Bihar continues to revolve around him and that he invariably remains at the helm while the alliance partners may come and go.

No wonder that he took oath as chief minister for the ninth time — twice in the last two years — after a series of dramatic developments over the weekend that culminated in his party, Janata Dal (United), ending its two year-long alliance with the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress. The ramifications of his latest flip-flop go beyond Bihar and must be seen as a massive blow to the I.N.D.I.A bloc ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. For the BJP, savouring the recent electoral victories in the northern States, the developments in Patna provide a juicy full toss waiting to be hit out of the park. The fact that Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats makes it a very significant political gain for the saffron party.

Ironically, it was Nitish who had played a key role in bringing the opposition parties together and hosted their first formal gathering in Patna in June 2023 where the I.N.D.I.A bloc took a formal shape. In fact, he was credited with the idea that the opposition parties should ensure one-to-one contests with the BJP in at least 400 Lok Sabha seats to avoid a split in the anti-BJP votes. The volte face could not have been more brutal as Nitish, minutes before his ‘ghar wapsi’ to the NDA, dubbed the opposition alliance as unworkable. The Bihar reversal comes amid the growing friction within the I.N.D.I.A grouping over seat-sharing arrangement. Formidable regional players like the Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have already announced their plans to go solo in the upcoming general elections while there is no attempt yet by the opposition grouping to present a compelling alternative agenda to take on BJP’s mighty electoral war machine.

Barring a few closed door meetings followed by press conferences, the I.N.D.I.A bloc has not taken up any big public outreach programme since its formation. The alliance is staring at a deep crisis in the battle of perception and in building a robust structure for a joint campaign and election strategy. The JD(U)’s exit from I.N.D.I.A will further push the Congress on the back foot as other constituents are likely to use the Bihar developments to push for a hard bargain in seatsharing. It also strengthens the BJP’s narrative that a coalition of so many ideologically divergent parties headed by leaders of inflated egos is bound to be unstable. The collapse of the Bihar coalition may well be a writing on the wall for the opposition.