Political strategist Prashant Kishor on Sunday predicted that the BJP-JDU alliance will not last beyond the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Kishor said Nitish will make another U-turn ahead of the assembly polls due in 2025. Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats and of these, the BJP and JDU together had bagged 39 in the 2019 elections. Some experts suggest that the BJP does not want to lose seats in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and that is why it has welcomed Nitish back in the NDA fold. However, they say, the BJP is confident of rising footprints and may play a bigger role in the assembly elections.
However, there were also reports that Nitish feared that he may not win as many Lok Sabha seats as he had in 2019 if he went with the RJD. It was reported that many JDU MPs wanted to snap ties with RJD and they had been putting pressure on Nitish to return to the NDA.
In the last assembly polls in 2020, the BJP had emerged as the second-largest party with 74 seats. The RJD, which was the largest, bagged just 75 seats. The JDU's number, however, crashed to 43 from 71 in 2015.
Also read: Bihar: BJP's Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Sinha to be Deputy CMs in Nitish Kumar's govt
Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar has staked claim to form the next government with the BJP in Bihar. Along with Nitish, eight ministers are likely to take oath at 5 pm. Bihar: BJP's state chief Samrat Choudhary, and Vijay Sinha will be the deputy chief ministers.
The Congress has termed Nitish's move as a 'betrayal' and said the people of Bihar will teach him a lesson. Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh said it was not surprising that Nitish Kumar had resigned. "He is a seasoned politician. He has been a Chief Minister for several years. But he keeps changing his political colours. He gives a tough challenge to chameleons. People of Bihar will give a befitting reply to him and to those who are making him dance from Delhi," the Congress leader said.
Ramesh said it the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah were perturbed by Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. "This drama has been done to divert attention from the Yatra...I would like to say that Nitish Kumar is an expert in betrayal."