Nitish Kumar: A tale of U-turns

A look at the political career of Nitish Kumar through the years

July 27, 2017 10:17 am | Updated 10:21 am IST

Nitish Kumar. File photo

Nitish Kumar. File photo

In what was seen as a body blow to the Opposition unity in Bihar, Nitish Kumar resigned as Bihar Chief Minister on July 26, 2017 . He cited "irreconcilable differences" with ally RJD on the issue of corruption charges against his then-deputy Tejashwi Yadav.  The BJP swiftly moved in, praising Mr. Kumar’s action, and giving its letter of support to a government headed by him.

On July 27, 2017, Mr. Kumar took the oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar , this time, however, with the support of the BJP.

A look at the political career of Nitish Kumar through the years

1985: Nitish Kumar elected to the State Assembly

1989: Backs Lalu Prasad in bagging the chair of the Leader of Opposition

1996: Switches loyalty to BJP

From 1998 to 2004: He served in the NDA government under A.B. Vajpayee in various capacities as the Railway,Surface Transport and Agriculture Minister

November 2005: Became Bihar Chief Minister with the BJP as the coalition partner

June 2013: Broke alliance with the BJP when it was clear that Narendra Modi was the BJP's prime ministerial candidate

February 2015: Allies with Lalu Prasad and contests the Assembly election, forming grand alliance with the Congress

July 2016, 2017: Takes another U-turn, decides to ally with the BJP to form the government in the State. Takes oath as Chief Minister for the sixth time, this time with the BJP's help 

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.