Amid speculations in Bihar whether Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will switch to the BJP, Janata Dal-United (JDU) leader Neeraj Kumar on Saturday queried how anybody could “target” the party which has “the arrow in its own hand.”

“Kaun humko nishane par lega, teer hamare haath mein hai. (Who can target those who have the arrow in their own hands?) Kumar Ji is the elected CM of the state. He does not aspire for any post. Those who have confusion in their mind should know better. Whoever we target, we target directly. We were members of the INDIA bloc. We kept making it clear again and again that we did not want any post,” he said.

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Responding to it, Congress leader Prem Chandra Mishra asked why is Nitish Kumar not breaking his silence. After all, what happened that he is going to take such a big step?

“Whatever news is coming, there is confusion in the politics of Bihar. No one is clearing it. According to the news, it seems that Nitish Ji will switch sides. There is no clarification from JDU. No effort is being made to remove the confusion. This is not a good situation for any state and its government. ‘Kabhi idhar-Kabhi udhar’, in such an environment there is a lack of credibility,” he said.

He further said that the BJP is also completely immersed in the politics of ‘Aaya Ram-Gaya Ram’.

“Why is Nitish ji not breaking his silence? After all, what happened that he is going to take such a big step? Why does this situation of confusion persist? What happened to all those things when he used to say that the BJP is weakening democracy? The people in power should end this situation of confusion and bring clarity…For us, Nitish ji is still a part of the INDIA alliance,” he added.

Nitish Kumar, after parting ways with the BJP in 2022, took on the initiative of uniting all opposition forces to jointly take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling party in the national election.

In 2000, Nitish became CM for the first time after campaigning against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s ‘Jungle Raaj’. Till now, he became Bihar’s CM on eight occasions.

In 2013, Nitish broke ranks with the NDA after a 17-year alliance following the announcement of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.

He expressed his displeasure to the BJP over Modi’s selection as the PM face, and after the BJP decided to not change its decision, Kumar left the alliance.

In 2017, Nitish forged a grand alliance with the RJD and Congress and returned as chief minister in 2015.

He walked out of the grand alliance in 2017, accusing the RJD of corruption and choking governance in the state.

In 2022, Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the BJP once again, alleging the BJP was conspiring against him and trying to influence JD-U MLAs to rebel against him.