Nitish Kumar, after return to NDA, says 'no question of going anywhere now'

Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the ninth time on Sunday, and said he is back to where he was before. In 2020, Kumar was with the NDA alliance that was voted to power in the state. In 2022, he walked out and became the chief minister of the JD(U)-RJD Mahagathbandhan. In less than two years, he has now gone back to the NDA.

“Now I am back where I was before (in NDA) and now there is no question of going anywhere,” Nitish Kumar said.

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Nitish Kumar's switch is a big blow to Lalu Prasad and his RJD. But former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav took the blow in his stride, saying that the game is not yet over in Bihar. JD(U) will be finished in 2024, Tejashwi said, calling Nitish Kumar a 'tired chief minister'.

"Nitish Kumar was a tired chief minister. Whatever the Mahagathbandhan government achieved was because of the RJD and the public will remain with us," Tejashwi said.

Nitish Kumar dismissed Tejashwi's statements and said JD(U) will continue work for the development and the progress of Bihar.

Nitish Kumar 9.0 in Bihar: Here are the top 10 developments

1. Nitish Kumar will once again be the chief minister of Bihar. Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha will be the deputy chief ministers.

2. PM Modi congratulated Nitish Kumar on taking the oath and said the NDA government will leave no stone unturned for the development in Bihar.

3. BJP president JP Nadda said Nitish Kumar's coming back to the NDA fold is a matter of happiness. The people of Bihar in 2020 gave the mandate to the NDA and Nitish Kumar is NDA's natural ally, Nadda said adding that the NDA will sweep Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.

4. Tejashwi Yadav said the game is not over in Bihar the public is with the RJD.

5. DMK tore into Nitish Kumar and said the party tolerated Nitish Kumar's 'only Hindi to be spoken' push for the sake of cordiality in INDIA alliance. "He (Nitish Kumar) said everyone should talk in Hindi. We tolerated it. Even then, we kept quiet, as a compromise, for the sake of cordiality in the alliance. It was said that English must not be spoken. This is an ordinary matter (hinting at politics). It is okay," DMK MP TR Baalu said.

6. Akhilesh said Nitish Kumar's switch is BJP's desperation ahead of the Lok Sabha election. It is a conspiracy to limit a could-be PM to the CM's chair, Akhilesh said. Earlier too Akhilesh made a similar comment as he said Nitish Kumar could have become the PM face of the INDIA bloc but he lost the chance by deserting it.

7. AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said the same Nitish Kumar who called Owaisi the B-team of the BJP has flipped and betrayed the people of the state.

8. "It is not surprising that he has done this 'Volte - Face' once again because he seems to be addicted to this kind of behaviour," NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said in a statement.

9. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said with Nitish Kumar's exit, the dissolution of the INDIA bloc is now certain

10. Congress said Nitish Kumar's switch on Sunday proved that it was all pre-planned and he kept the INDIA bloc, the RJD leadership in the dark.