NEW DELHI: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday pinned the blame for his exit from the alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party in 2022 on “some leader” from his party.While speaking at a rally in Bihar’s Purnea, Nitish Kumar said that some of the leaders who created rift between JD(U) and BJP are present on the stage. He also vowed that he will never break alliance with BJP in the future.“Yes, there was some trouble in between… some people among them created problems, and this is never acceptable… sometimes even some of our own party people did such things. Even now one leader is sitting with us… now there is no such issue, no question arises anymore,” Nitish said.“There will be no kind of alliance with anyone now. You know what… from the beginning when the government was formed, it was BJP and JD(U) in the NDA, and it is from that only that all the work was done. In between, there were some ups and downs, let that be… now no question arises, we will not make any alliance,” he added.Although Nitish didn’t take any name, all eyes were on Union minister Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh present at the stage. Lallan was the national president of the JD(U), and stepped down just a month before Nitish abruptly exited the INDIA bloc.Speculation had been rife that Lallan was forced to resign amid perceptions that he had grown too close to the RJD, led by Nitish’s long-time rival, Lalu Prasad Yadav.The JD(U)-BJP alliance traces its roots back to the 1990s. It first collapsed in 2013 following disagreements over the BJP’s decision to project then-Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate.Nitish later partnered with RJD chief Lalu Prasad, but that alliance fell apart in 2017, prompting his return to the NDA fold.The partnership with the BJP endured until 2022, when Nitish switched sides once again, joining the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan while accusing the BJP of trying to split his party and vowing to defeat it.However, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Nitish broke away from the INDIA bloc — which he had been instrumental in forming — and rejoined the NDA.
