INDIA Bloc Faces Fragmentation as Key Members Consider Solo Paths

New Delhi/Patna: Even before the INDIA bloc could enter the electoral coliseum, it appeared to be breaking apart. A day after Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and AAP Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann announced their decision to go alone in the respective states, the JD(U) chief and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar dropped hints of snapping ties with the grand alliance.

Speculation is rife that Mr Kumar-led JD(U) could once again switch partners and return to the NDA fold. Possibilities of the JD(U) and the BJP joining hands gained momentum on Thursday when Mr Kumar announced his decision not to join Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the JD(U) chief took a swipe at the Congress and the RJD by saying he "never promoted any member of his family".

Addressing a JD(U) rally to mark the centenary birth anniversary of Karpoori Thakur on Wednesday, Mr Kumar thanked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for conferring the highest civilian award -- the Bharat Ratna -- on the socialist leader and former two-time chief minister of Bihar.

If Mr Kumar does cross over to the saffron camp, he will be changing camps for the fifth time, earning him the moniker "aya ram gaya ram" of Indian politics.

While rumours and speculation of Mr Kumar's "eagerness" to return to the NDA raged on, the BJP leadership is reportedly in no mood to retain him as the chief minister as of now.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Mr Kumar's newly appointed political advisor K.C. Tyagi flew down to New Delhi with some Bihar BJP leaders to negotiate terms of the "ghar wapsi".

Ahead of Thursday's developments, sources disclosed Mr Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda had held a meeting on Wednesday evening over developments in Bihar.

Stung by Mr Kumar's "parivarwad' jibe and buzz that he could make yet another switch, former Bihar chief minister and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Rohini Acharya launched a scathing attack on his "ideological stance" on X. She later deleted the post.

Reacting to the attack, Mr Tyagi said, “It is not good for younger people to intervene in the matters of elders.”

Amid the developments, both Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav held separate meetings with their senior leaders at their official residences in Patna on Thursday evening.

Following the rapid developments in Bihar, senior BJP leaders, including state unit chief Samrat Chowdhury, Rajya Sabha member Sushil Modi and former deputy chief minister Renu Devi met BJP national general secretary and Bihar incharge Vinod Tawde. These leaders later met Mr Shah and Mr Nadda.

For the moment, the BJP is keeping its Bihar card close to its chest. However, sources revealed that there's a "possibility of Mr Kumar sharing dais" with the Prime Minister at a rally in the state on February 4.

Meanwhile, when confronted by the media in New Delhi on Thursday evening, Mr Tyagi claimed that “the JD(U) is still part of the INDIA bloc, but trouble is brewing in West Bengal”.

RJD spokesperson Shakti Yadav also toed the line, saying that “there is no threat to the grand alliance government in Bihar”.

The signs of simmering discontent within the INDIA bloc had appeared in December when the JD(U) demanded early seat-sharing arrangements. Reports indicated that the JD(U) was adamant on contesting 17 seats, including the Kishanganj Lok Sabha berth, where it ended as a runner up during the last general election.

Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats. The JD(U), in alliance with the BJP, contested 17 seats each in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While the BJP won all 17 seats, the JD(U) got 16 seats. The NDA partner, the LJP contested and won all six seats. The Congress won the Muslim-dominated Kishanganj seat, but its partner RJD faced defeat in all the constituencies.