‘Leader sitting with us’: Nitish goes off script; ‘reveals’ what led to JD(U)-BJP split | India News

NEW DELHI: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday pinned the blame for his exit from the alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party in 2022 on “some leader” from his party.While speaking at a rally in Bihar’s Purnea, Nitish Kumar said that some of the leaders who created rift between JD(U) and BJP are present on the stage. He also vowed that he will never break alliance with BJP in the future.“Yes, there was some trouble in between… some people among them created problems, and this is never acceptable… sometimes even some of our own party people did such things. Even now one leader is sitting with us… now there is no such issue, no question arises anymore,” Nitish said.“There will be no kind of alliance with anyone now. You know what… from the beginning when the government was formed, it was BJP and JD(U) in the NDA, and it is from that only that all the work was done. In between, there were some ups and downs, let that be… now no question arises, we will not make any alliance,” he added.Although Nitish didn’t take any name, all eyes were on Union minister Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh present at the stage. Lallan was the national president of the JD(U), and stepped down just a month before Nitish abruptly exited the INDIA bloc.Speculation had been rife that Lallan was made to resign due to perceptions that he had grown too close to the RJD, headed by Nitish’s long-time rival, Lalu Prasad Yadav.The JD(U) and BJP’s alliance dates back to the 1990s. It first broke in 2013 over disagreements regarding the elevation of PM Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.Nitish later allied with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, but that alliance lasted only until 2017, when he returned to the NDA fold.The alliance continued until 2022, when Kumar once again joined hands with the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, vowing to defeat the BJP and accusing it of attempting to split his party.However, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, Nitish returned to the NDA, abandoning the INDIA bloc that he had helped form by uniting parties opposed to the BJP.