Nitish expert in betrayal; return to NDA-fold expected: JMM

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha criticizes Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, labeling "betrayal" as his political character within the opposition INDIA grouping.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), a member of the opposition INDIA grouping on Saturday hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying ”betrayal” was his political character.

The party said the JD(U) chief himself doesn’t know where he belongs.”Nitish Kumar’s resignation was expected as betrayal has been his political character,” JMM general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya told PTI.

Bhattacharya said Kumar wanted to continue as CM and ultimately resorted to joining hands with the NDA. He said Kumar has already ”betrayed” several leaders including Karpoori Thakur, George Fernandes, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad and ultimately the people of Bihar.

Kumar on Sunday resigned as the Chief Minister of Bihar, saying ”things were not working well” for him in the Mahagathbandhan and the opposition bloc INDIA, and staked claim to form a new government with the BJP, which he had dumped less than 18 months ago.

On Saturday Bhattacharya said that Kumar was not made the convener of the INDIA bloc due to the lack of trust in him by the opposition grouping.”Nitish Kumar is himself not aware which party he belongs to. He neither belongs to his party nor to any other”, Bhattacharya had said.

”There was no trust in him. So, he was not made the convener (of the INDIA bloc),” he alleged.Bhattacharya had also said that people of Bihar are ”politically aware” and there is ”anger” among them. ”They will not tolerate such practice (of changing sides) every time”, he had said.

An NDA ally since the 1990s, Kumar had quit the coalition in August 2022, suspecting the BJP of trying to engineer a split in the JD(U). He then formed a new government with a multi-party coalition, which included the RJD, Congress and three Left parties.