‘Would rather die than go to NDA’: Old Nitish Kumar video goes viral

Jan 27, 2024 09:18 PM IST

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On January 30 in 2023, Nitish Kumar said he would rather die than ally with the BJP. A year later, he is speculated to join hands with the BJP.

Amid heightened political tension in Bihar over speculations of Nitish Kumar rejoining the NDA fold, an old video of the chief minister saying he would prefer to die rather than go with the NDA has gone viral. Several political leaders shared the year-old video questioning Nitish Kumar's 'paltu ram' (U-turn) streak as he is all set to exit the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and join the NDA. "Nitish Kumar sir, we all want you to have a long life as you are a great leader of the country. You are the father of INDIA alliance, what will the public think if you turn around again?" Samajwadi leader Rajeev Rai said sharing the old video of Nitish Kumar.

Nitish Kumar's old video in which he said he would rather die but not go with the BJP is going viral as Bihar is at the tipping point of a major political change.

"Would prefer to die rather than go with them (BJP). All these talks are bogus... they filed cases against Tejashwi and his father without any reason to bring me to their side," Nitish said in 2023. Nitish was responding to the BJP's decision that they would never ally with Nitish.

In August 2022, Nitish Kumar broke his alliance with the BJP and tied up with the RJD. In 2020 election, he was with the BJP. Nitish Kumar is known for switching sides which began years ago -- in 1994, he broke away from the then Janata dal to form Samata Party with George Fernandes. In 1996, he joined hands with the BJP and became a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet.

In 2003, Nitish Kumar decided to merge his Samata Party with Janata Dal and the party became Janata Dal (United).

In 2013, Nitish Kumar broke his 17-year alliance with the NDA in protest to Narendra Modi becoming BJP's prime ministerial candidate for 2014. For the 2015 election, Nitish Kumar aligned with RJD and the Congress which he broke in 2017 returning to the NDA fold.

Nitish Kumar is all set to tender his resignation by Sunday morning, news agency PTI reported citing highly placed sources. The latest developments threw the parties into a tizzy as all huddled on Saturday afternoon to chart the future course of action. The Bihar BJP leadership is believed to be not warm to Nitish Kumar for his many volte-faces. The RJD, the ally of the JD(U) in the Bihar government, asked its MLAs to not become unreachable as they are hoping to challenge Nitish Kumar with a floor test if he extends support to the BJP.