Nitish Kumar is called a political parasite by RJD spokesperson Nawal Kishore during a discussion on NDTV 24x7. Kishore's point was that Nitish does not have the grassroot support to win elections on his own and therefore piggybacks on other parties. In 2005, with the help of BJP, Nitish became the Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time. The alliance worked in the next elections in 2010. But just before the 2014 Parliamentary elections, Nitish broke from BJP on the issue of Narendra Modi being elevated as the party's choice of PM. Nitish stayed in power with the help of outside support from Congress and RJD. In the next Assembly elections held in 2015, the Mahagatbandhan swept Bihar with a two-thirds majority and Nitish was back as the Chief Minister for the third successive time.Finally, last week Nitish decided to break the alliance with RJD and Congress over corruption charges on Tejeshwi Yadav and re-align with BJP to remain CM.
There are two principles on which Nitish Kumar claims to base his politics on- anti-corruption and secularism. The RJD now charges Nitish with going with the communal party and thus compromising on secular ideals. The JDU defends the decision on the point that Nitish Kumar has a zero-tolerance policy on corruption and after giving Tejeshwi ample opportunity to rebut charges leveled against him, Nitish had no choice but to take a principled stance and resign as CM of the grand alliance. Nitish had in the last few months taken an independent decision on important issues, divergent to the stance of the other opposition parties. For instance, Nitish was the only opposition leader to support the demonitisation of Modi government and later supported the BJP candidate Ram Nath Kovind for Presidency.
Nitish is a shrewd politician. Every politician has only one objective- to come to power and stay in power for ever. Principles are thrown by the wayside to achieve the greater objective. We have many examples from P V Narsimha Rao government buying the votes of JMM politicians to Manmohan Singh taking the help of SP and BSP to hang on to power. So, Nitish is only following in the great tradition of Indian politicians.
There are two principles on which Nitish Kumar claims to base his politics on- anti-corruption and secularism. The RJD now charges Nitish with going with the communal party and thus compromising on secular ideals. The JDU defends the decision on the point that Nitish Kumar has a zero-tolerance policy on corruption and after giving Tejeshwi ample opportunity to rebut charges leveled against him, Nitish had no choice but to take a principled stance and resign as CM of the grand alliance. Nitish had in the last few months taken an independent decision on important issues, divergent to the stance of the other opposition parties. For instance, Nitish was the only opposition leader to support the demonitisation of Modi government and later supported the BJP candidate Ram Nath Kovind for Presidency.
Nitish is a shrewd politician. Every politician has only one objective- to come to power and stay in power for ever. Principles are thrown by the wayside to achieve the greater objective. We have many examples from P V Narsimha Rao government buying the votes of JMM politicians to Manmohan Singh taking the help of SP and BSP to hang on to power. So, Nitish is only following in the great tradition of Indian politicians.
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