Nitish Kumar's political journey: A brief flashback

Patna: Nearly 24 years back, Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time on March 3, 2000, after campaigning vociferously against Lalu Prasad Yadav's 'Jungle-Raj'. But his maiden stint on the hot seat was over in only seven days as he failed to prove his majority in the Assembly.

He again formed the government on November 24, 2005, in alliance with the BJP, and has since then continued as CM of Bihar, except for a brief period of nearly ten months, from May 20, 2014, until February 21, 2015, when he handed over the regency to Jitan Ram after his party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.

In all, between 2000 and 2024. Kumar has taken the oath nine times as Bihar CM.

The wily leader snapped a 17-year-old alliance with the BJP in 2013 after the saffron party announced Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. Kumar's JD(U) fought the 2014 Lok Sabha polls alone but managed to win only two seats.

The next year, 2015, Kumar joined forces with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress, and fought the Assembly election under the banner of the Grand Alliance.

The GA achieved a landslide victory, and Kumar was again sworn in as Chief Minister on November 20, 2015.

But Kumar took another u-turn in 2017, as he dumped the GA and returned to the NDA, accusing the RJD of corruption and choking governance in the state. He resigned as Chief Minister and took fresh oath as CM heading the NDA government.

Kumar's JD(U) contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2020 Bihar Assembly elections as part of the BJP-led NDA alliance. Again in 2022, blaming the BJP for conspiring against him and trying to influence JD-U MLAs to rebel, Kumar quit the NDA to form the second Grand Alliance government with the RJD, Congress, and Left parties.

Earlier, within two years of forming the Samata Party with George Fernandes in 1996, Kumar had switched over to the BJP and was made minister in the Atal Bihar Vajpayee-led NDA government. In 2003, when Lalu Prasad Yadav formed the RJD after his split with Sharad Yadav, Nitish Kumar merged his Samata Party with the Janata Dal, and the new alliance was named Janata Dal (United).

But the now-friend-now-foe relations between Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav has continued for decades. Kumar, who had been active in politics since the student movement of 1974, played a vital role in making Yadav Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990.

He was elected MLA for the first time in 1985 from the Harnauth Assembly Constituency and won the Lok Sabha poll for the first time in 1989 from the Barh seat. Thereafter, he continuously won the Lok Sabha elections in 1996, 1998, and 1999.

He served as Union Minister of State for Agriculture in the Cabinet of PM VP Singh in 1989, andw handled heavyweight portfolios like Surface Transport, Agriculture and Railways in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet at various times between 1999 and 2004.