Patna: Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar on Friday travelled to Delhi to attend the national executive meeting of the party.
All MPs and ministers, executive members, general secretaries, secretaries and state presidents will attend the meeting on Saturday to discuss the impact of various decisions taken by the party in recent past and also look ahead.
Though JD(U) general secretary KC Tyagi said it’s a routine exercise aimed at strengthening and expanding the party’s organisation, Nitish is likely to seek views on the Bihar assembly polls scheduled in 2025.
Nitish is known to switch sides and change alliances. Though his party is currently one of the key alliance partners of BJP-headed NDA government in the Centre, political observers say it’s too early to predict whether Nitish will stick with NDA 12 months down the line.
Known as ‘paltu kumar’, Nitish has been Bihar chief minister since 2005 with one alliance or the other — either with former allies Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD and Congress, or BJP.
In 2013, Nitish cut off JD(U)’s 17-year-old ties with BJP and NDA, and joined the grand alliance comprising RJD and Congress, but switched back to NDA again in 2017.
JD(U)-BJP coalition then contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and won a thumping majority of 39 out of 40 seats in Bihar. They also won the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections together.
But in 2022, Nitish parted ways with BJP and formed the government with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav as his deputy.
The latest ‘ghar wapsi’ took place in January, as JD(U) returned to the NDA fold, and Nitish retook CM’s oath for the ninth time.
The BJP is hoping that Nitish will stay loyal this time.
