NDA will suffer with entry of Nitish, INDIA-bloc will emerge stronger: Opposition leaders

NEW DELHI: Leaders of the INDIA bloc on Monday asserted that JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar’s exit will not affect the Opposition alliance, with many questioning his political capital with the refrain that ‘Nitish does not mean Bihar’ and some even casting doubts on his health.

“One person quitting ‘Mahagathbandhan’ will not weaken us. We will defeat the BJP,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said in Odisha.

The Bihar chief minister was considered a prime architect of Opposition unity but the INDIA parties were putting up a brave face on Monday saying the BJP-led NDA will lose credibility and suffer electorally by aligning with a leader like Kumar who is frequently changing sides.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Kumar did not do the right thing by exiting the INDIA bloc.

“I feel that he should not have left. He has done wrong. Such conduct is not good for democracy. My understanding is that this (his exit) will cause losses for NDA in Bihar, instead of benefitting them. INDIA bloc will benefit,” the AAP chief said.

There were more barbs hurled at the Bihar chief minister with Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut calling Kumar “Paltu Ram” and asking how many times will he indulge in “volte-face”.

Raut said: “Nitish does not mean Bihar”, and asked, “Will people of that state like it if a person takes oath (as CM) multiple times in one tenure”.

He claimed the Congress was in favour of appointing Kumar as the convener of the Opposition bloc.

“But if someone thinks that the exit of Nitish Kumar will create a rift in the national (INDIA) alliance, then it is not correct. Infact, the organisation gets tougher if such people leave, and the INDIA bloc will also become stronger,” the Rajya Sabha member said.

He said the RJD and the Congress and other parties will help make the INDIA bloc stronger. The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader also claimed that Kumar and the BJP have lost credibility in Bihar. However, BJP ally and Republican Party of India (A) chief Ramdas Athawale said Kumar’s decision to join the NDA has been taken at the right time for the development of Bihar.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X a widely shared meme on Kumar’s frequent volte-face in the last few years, which said that the governor expressed surprise when Kumar went back to take his scarf he had left at the Raj Bhawan within 15 minutes of his oath-taking for the ninth time.

Interacting with reporters in Kishanganj during the Congress’ ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ which entered Bihar on Monday, Ramesh mocked Kumar, calling him ‘Aaya Kumar,

Gaya Kumar’.

BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya targeted former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and claimed that it was “game over” for the

Opposition alliance.