Nitish Kumar headed for return to NDA?

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 27

Political developments of the past few months indicate that Janata Dal United leader Nitish Kumar may be on his way back to the NDA, which he had walked out of after his relations with Narendra Modi, his then Gujarat counterpart, soured.

While replying to a query whether the JD-U stalwart was inching close to the coalition he was part of for 17 years, BJP chief Amit Shah on Friday had said that he had no such communication from the Bihar Chief Minister.

However, Kumar’s presence at the Prime Minister’s lunch in honour of Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth on Saturday and his absence from the opposition’s lunch on Friday, some believe, may be one of the many signs.

Kumar had broken the alliance with the NDA in 2013 after Modi was declared the PM candidate of the saffron coalition.

However, much has changed since. Kumar was among the few rivals who had appreciated Modi’s demonetisation move. The BJP reciprocated by appreciating his liquor ban in Bihar and also his clean image. The first proof of the improvement in the relations between Kumar and Modi came at the Prakash Parv celebrations at the Patna Sahib gurdwara in January.
Since then, several BJP leaders have appreciated Kumar’s performance as “sushasan babu when he was in alliance with the BJP”.

BJP leaders claim that given his clean image, it is natural that he is feeling bogged down by fresh allegations of corruption against Lalu Prasad and his family.

Also, the need to get together could be mutual. While Kumar needs the numbers to run the government in Bihar in the possible absence of the RJD, the BJP needs him to do well in the state where it fared badly in the last Assembly polls.