Why Nitish Kumar’s Exit Is Big Setback For INDIA, Facepalm For Congress

New Delhi: 

In his response to the no-confidence motion against the BJP government last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the Opposition’s INDIA bloc was bowling one no-ball after the other. Five months later, political developments in Bihar have provided BJP nothing less than a full toss.

JDU leader Nitish Kumar’s move to end his alliance with the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal to revive his tie-up with the BJP comes as a massive setback to the INDIA bloc months before it takes on the formidable BJP in Lok Sabha polls. What’s more, Mr Kumar, in his first remarks after submitting his resignation, referred to how “nobody was working” in the INDIA bloc.The Bihar reversal comes amid the friction within the INDIA bloc to reach a seat-sharing arrangement with regional forces Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party. Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee has hit out at the Congress amid seat-sharing talks and virtually pulled the plug on an INDIA alliance in the state. She has said Trinamool will contest alone and a decision on any alliance would be taken only after the election. The Congress has since been busy in damage control and has stressed that they are working to find a way out. Seat-sharing talks have also hit a roadblock in Punjab, where Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has said the AAP is gearing up for a solo fight.

Here’s how Nitish Kumar’s latest flip-flop hits INDIA bloc