'He Didn't Give A Hint': Jairam Ramesh On Nitish Kumar's Departure From INDIA Bloc

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, one of the main architects of the INDI alliance, broke away from the bloc and again joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Opposition alliance members have criticized Nitish for his unexpected exit, with Congress MP Jairam Ramesh noting that there were no indications of such a rupture in ties.

Recalling that it was Nitish Kumar who called on the meeting of the opposition parties in Patna, Ramesh said it is a matter of regret that he left the alliance at the last moment and a blatant breach of trust. 

"Nitish Kumar convened meeting in Patna with the participation of 18 parties. Meetings were held in Bengaluru, and Mumbai, with Nitish Kumar attended all these meetings without providing any indication of his intention to sever ties with the INDIA alliance. It is disheartening that he chose to depart from our alliance at the last moment. This complete breach of trust and the people of Bihar will respond to this betrayal in due course," said Congress MP Jairam Ramesh.

#WATCH | West Bengal: On Nitish Kumar joining NDA, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh says, "Nitish Kumar called a meeting... 18 parties were present in Patna. The meeting was held in Bengaluru, Mumbai. Nitish Kumar was present in all the meetings. He didn't give any hint (that he would… pic.twitter.com/BvfsSLRZpb — ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2024

Meanwhile, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge also slammed Nitish Kumar's and said his move to split from Mahagathbandhan and to join the NDA was 'pre-planned' and accused the JD(U) Chief of keeping the INDIA bloc in dark.

Speaking to ANI, the Congress President alleged that the JD(U) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 'planned' to break the INDIA bloc as such decisions can not be taken in a hurry.

"Such decisions can not be taken in a hurry...This shows that it was all pre-planned. To break the INDIA alliance they (BJP-JD(U)) planned all this... He (Nitish Kumar) kept us in the dark, he kept Lalu Yadav in the dark," Kharge said.

JDU leader Nitish Kumar's move to end his alliance with the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal to revive his tie-up with the BJP comes as a massive setback to the INDIA bloc months before it takes on the formidable BJP in Lok Sabha polls.

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.

Nitish Kumar took the oath as Chief Minister of Bihar for the ninth time in Raj Bhawan, Patna, switching sides again, this time with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

It was for the second time in two years that Nitish Kumar had jumped the ship, his fifth crossover in a little over a decade, preceding his ninth time as chief minister.

Two Deputy CMs from the BJP, Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and six other ministers, including Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Santosh Kumar Suman, Shrawan Kumar, and others, also took the oath today.