A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad exchanged greetings at the Bihar Assembly, Mr. Prasad said his “doors are always open” for the former.
Mr. Prasad had called Janata Dal (United) leader Mr. Kumar “palturam” (turncoat) when he first parted ways with RJD in 2017 to join hands with the BJP. On January 28, Mr. Kumar again severed ties with the RJD and formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar with the support of the BJP, as he took oath as the Chief Minister of the State for a record ninth time.
Mr. Prasad was on his way to Jandaha in Vaishali district on Friday to attend a private event when presspersons asked him if he would invite Mr. Kumar back into the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) fold. “Jab aaayenge tab dekha jayega [Will see when he comes back],” Mr. Prasad said. When pressed further, Mr. Prasad, flashing a puckish smile said, “Darwaja khula hi rahta hai [Doors are always open].”
A day before, on February 15, both leaders had exchanged greetings at the Bihar Assembly. Mr. Prasad had visited the Assembly for the nomination of two party leaders for Rajya Sabha elections — Manoj Jha and Sanjay Yadav. Mr. Kumar was there for the election of senior State BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav as the new Speaker. Mr. Kumar was coming out while Mr. Prasad was entering the Assembly.
On January 28, Mr. Kumar had made a sudden political U-turn, dumping the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan and joining hands yet again with with the BJP. Since 2017, it was for the second time Mr. Kumar had left the RJD for an alliance with the BJP. Since March 2000, Mr. Kumar had allied with the BJP seven times and twice with the RJD. “Ab idhar-udhar kabhi nahi jayenge [Now, I’ll never go here or there],” Mr. Kumar had reiterated several times after his latest switch last month.
However, in 2014, when he had formed the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan government, Mr. Kumar in the Assembly had asserted that he would “die but not make compromise again with the BJP. This chapter has been closed now”. In January 2024, Mr. Kumar had again emphatically stated “death will be acceptable but I will not go with the BJP again”.
Mr Prasad, though, has been maintaining stoic silence ever since Mr. Kumar had deserted his party for the second time last month. Three RJD MLAs defied the party’s whip and voted in favour of the NDA in trust vote on February 12 in the State Assembly.
Meanwhile, JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, reacting to Mr. Prasad’s comment that “doors are always open”, said, “Aligarh lock now has been put on the doors. Our leader Nitish Kumar has clearly said that whenever RJD had shared power with us, it has engaged in corruption. There is no question of going back”. But poll strategist turned political activist Prashant Kishor, who is now on his Jan Suraaj (people’s good governance) campaign across the State, predicted: “Mr. Kumar will take another U-turn after the upcoming Lok Sabha election”.
