How Nitish Kumar And Tejashwi Yadav Hit A Hard Reset: 6 Facts

In May, Nitish Kumar attended an iftar party held by Tejashwi Yadav at his home.

Nitish Kumar's break-up with the BJP today comes on the back of an understanding with Tejashwi Yadav, developed over the last few months, that they would work together for a second time to form the government in Bihar.

Here are 6 facts from this big story

From 2015 to 2017, their parties and the Congress, were the three components of the government. Then Nitish Kumar called it off. Nitish Kumar then reunited with the BJP (they had a long-standing partnership except for the period mentioned above). Things with the BJP reached break point abruptly but the behind-the-scenes plotting with Tejashwi Yadav is exemplified by these cases:

In May, Nitish Kumar walked the short distance to an iftar party held by Tejashwi Yadav at his home. Iftaar parties mark the breaking of the day's fast in the weeks preceding Eid. For the Chief Minister, age 72, to not just attend the celebration, but to walk there, was to ensure the media -and the BJP - had full visibility of his move. Similarly, when Tejashwi Yadav attended Nitish Kumar's iftar party, the chief minister, as a gesture of respect, walked the 32-year-old all the way to his gate.
After that, when a new case of corruption was registered against Tejashwi's father, Lalu Yadav, neither the chief minister nor anyone from his party, the Janata Dal United, issued comment on the matter. Their silence was seen as disapproval of the centre's action against Lalu Yadav, age 74, who is in hospital after getting bail in another corruption case.
During the most recent Assembly session which ended in June, Tejashwi Yadav and his MLAs (his is the single-largest party) refused to criticize the government led by Nitish Kumar.
When Lalu Yadav developed serious health complications and had to be flown to Delhi in July, Nitish Kumar personally supervised all arrangements including his travel.
This past Sunday, when Tejashwi Yadav's party held a protest against price rise, there were careful arrangements to ensure that the agitation covered important roads with enough security in place - a sign of support from Nitish Kumar's arrangement.
When the centre said a caste census could not be held, Nitish Kumar in May called a meeting of all parties and announced that in Bihar, a counting of castes would take place. His biggest advocate for this was Tejashwi Yadav.