Nitish Kumar: The many switch hits and u-turn politician from Bihar

New Delhi, Aug 08: The Bihar government is on the verge of a collapse as Nitish Kumar appears to make a u-turn yet again. Meetings are scheduled of all the parties and an announcement regarding a split with the BJP is likely to be made this week.

In the 2016 elections, Nitish Kumar formed the government in Bihar with the support of the RJD, Congress and left.

He however resigned as CM on July 26 2017 and later formed the government in alliance with the BJP. In the 2021 elections, Nitish Kumar's JD(U) fought elections with the BJP and formed the government although the JD(U) was able to get just 43 seats.

With the political crisis looming large in Bihar, let us take a look at the timeline:

1985: Nitish Kumar elected to the Bihar state assembly

1989: Nitish Kumar backs Lalu Prasad and bags the chair of leader of opposition

1996: Nitish Kumar makes a switch hit, backs BJP

2000: Nitish is elected as CM of Bihar for the first time. With 151 MLAs, the NDA was unable to prove its majority in the then 324 member House. He resigned before he could prove the numbers

1988 to 2004: Served as minister of railways, surface transport and agriculture minister in the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee

2004: Re-elected to Lok Sabha for a sixth term from Nalanda

November 2005: Nitish is sworn in as chief minister of Bihar with the BJP as coalition partner

2012: Supported Pranab Mukherji for president while in NDA

June 2013: Breaks ties with BJP after it became clear that Narendra Modi will be the prime ministerial candidate

2014: Nitish steps down as CM and Jitan Ram Manjhi is appointed CM

February 2015: Nitish's JD(U) allies with RJD under Lalu Prasad Yadav and contest elections. Goes on to become CM with backing of RJD, Congress and Left

July 2016: Nitish takes another u-turn and forms the government with BJP

2017: Supported Ramnath Kovind for president while in MGB

2020: Contests elections with BJP and goes onto take oath as CM again. In this election the JD(U) bagged just 43 seats as opposed to the 74 won by the BJP