Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, after parting ways with the BJP in 2022, took on the initiative of coralling all opposition forces to jointly take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling party in the national election. He hosted the first meeting of opposition parties in Patna, and it was widely believed that he would eventually be the coalition's Convenor.
So how and why did Nitish Kumar become so disillusioned that he reached out to PM Modi, the man he wanted to defeat?
According to leaders close to the 72-year-old, the January 13 meeting of the INDIA alliance was the turning point.
In that meeting, Nitish Kumar's name was proposed as Convenor by CPM Leader Sitaram Yechury and endorsed by almost all leaders, including Lalu Yadav and Sharad Pawar. However, Rahul Gandhi interjected and said a decision on this would have to wait as Trinamool Congress leader and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had reservations over Nitish Kumar for the role. Tejashwi Yadav, Nitish Kumar's deputy (now soon-to-be ex), pointed out that Mamata Banerjee had skipped the meeting and that the decision should not be subject to her approval as a majority were in favour of Nitish Kumar. Significantly, though not surprisingly, neither Sonia Gandhi nor Mallikarjun Kharge sought to overrule Rahul Gandhi. Nitish Kumar, say sources close to him, felt then that he was "never going to achieve his objective of overthrowing Modi". And he decided, "if you can't beat him, join him", the leaders said.
Nitish Kumar felt that Rahul Gandhi, instead of trying to persuade Mamata Banerjee and bring her around, humiliated him in the meeting by citing reservations over his name.
Nitish Kumar's supporters believe that as long as Rahul Gandhi is taking all the important calls, the opposition cannot manage full unity or put up a respectable fight against the BJP.
Reports that Nitish Kumar would not join Rahul Gandhi's yatra in Bihar were a dead giveaway that the opposition alliance is in trouble.
The INDIA bloc is unraveling furiously with its key mover making a last-minute one-eighty and deciding to partner the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Over the last two days, two other opposition MVPs -- Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal -- have all but ended it with the INDIA bloc, ruling out any alliance with the Congress and declaring solo fights in Bengal and Punjab.
