Sharad Pawar stated that the public will teach the JD(U) a lesson going forward, even if he was curious as to what caused Nitish Kumar to change his mind.

Veteran member of the Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar appears surprised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision on Sunday to leave the mahagathbandhan, or grand alliance of the opposition, and form a new alliance with his former ally, the NDA, which is run by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The NCP chief expressed curiosity about the reasons behind the president of Janata Dal (United), who was instrumental in forming the INDIA bloc to challenge the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, changing his mind. However, he predicted that the people would hold Nitish Kumar accountable going forward.

Sharad Pawar criticized the Bihar chief minister, saying, “On the contrary, he was playing a role against the BJP,” for abandoning the mahagathbandhan in the state. I’m not sure what transpired so quickly, but the people will undoubtedly make him pay for his actions going forward.

The veteran member of the opposition informed news agency ANI that such a scenario had never been witnessed in such a short amount of time. “Whatever occurred in Patna, this kind of circumstance has never been observed in such a brief amount of time…It was Nitish Kumar, I recall, who summoned all the non-BJP parties to Patna. His function was comparable, but in the previous ten to fifteen days, he abandoned this philosophy; as a result, he joined the BJP and helped create the administration. It did not appear that he would take such a step in the last ten days, according to Pawar, who was reported by ANI.

Only months before the general elections, Nitish Kumar’s decision to sever ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, led by Lalu Prasad Yadav, and reestablish his alliance with the BJP is viewed as a major blow to the INDIA bloc.

Following his 2022 split from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Nitish Kumar spearheaded the effort to get the opposition parties together to jointly challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling party in the national elections.

However, on Sunday, Nitish Kumar took the oath of office in Raj Bhawan as Bihar’s chief minister for the eighth time. This was his second party transfer in as many years, this time joining the BJP.

All in all, it was his fifth crossover before his ninth term as chief minister in just over ten years.

Opposition Chiefs Criticise Nitish Kumar

Following the setback for the INDIA group, other leaders of the Congress, RJD, DMK, JMM, TMC, CPI(ML)-L, and AAP all aimed Nitish Kumar.

Congress national secretary Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Nitish Kumar, stating that it is obvious that a “political drama” is being produced to deflect attention from the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra of his party.

Ramesh went on to say that it was obvious that Rahul Gandhi’s yatra, which is expected to reach Bihar, has the prime minister (Narendra Modi) and the BJP “scared.”

The Congress MP declared that the people of Bihar would not forgive this “expert of betrayal” and those forcing him to dance to their songs.

However, Ramesh asserted that “we will unitedly fight against the BJP and all parties like DMK, NCP, TMC, and SP will fight it together” and that “the INDIA bloc is strong.”

Nitish Kumar is “known for his political somersaults at regular intervals,” according to the Trinamool Congress, which also claimed that people will react to such “opportunism.”

However, several opposition figures, including Mallikarjun Kharge, the head of the Congress, claimed to have known that Nitish Kumar may leave.

“A lot of people in the country are like ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram,'” Kharge remarked, alluding to the slang term for political traitors.

According to Kharge, Nitish Kumar would have stayed had he desired to.

Tejashwi Yadav, an RJD leader and former deputy to Nitish Kumar in the previous government, described the JD(U) chairman as a “respectable” but “tired” leader and forewarned the BJP that the septuagenarian did not enjoy sharing “credit” with partners.

“Whatever may be the excuses Nitish ji makes for switching sides, his JD(U) is all set to be finished (khatam hone wala hai) in Lok Sabha polls,” he stated.

The CPI(ML) Liberation, which provided outside support to the mahagathbandhan administration, stated that the RSS-BJP alliance will utilise Nitish Kumar, “who has had the longest stint as CM,” “as its pawn.”

In a post on ‘X’ in Hindi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav stated, “The BJP has never been so weak as it has become today.” A fresh treachery record has been made today.”

“The public’s response to this will be appropriate. The biggest failure of all is when someone doesn’t think highly of you personally. In response to this insult, the people would vote out the BJP coalition in the Lok Sabha election, Yadav stated in a different post.

Asaduddin Owaisi, head of AIM “The three parties (JD(U), RJD and BJP) together have betrayed the people of Bihar on the issues they spoke about, the promises they made… their political ideology.”

SOURCE: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/how-surprised-sharad-pawar-others-reacted-to-nitish-kumars-exit-from-india-bloc-101706488897044.html