is called “Chanakya” A state in Eastern India Politics, Nitish came into the limelight of state politics in March 1990 after helping his Janata Dal seniors Lalu Prasad To climb the CM’s chair. At that time Nitish used to call Lalu as his “elder brother” and Lalu as his “younger brother”. Insiders say that Lalu used to take the consent of Nitish and some other senior allies before taking any major political and administrative decision in the party and government.
But, within a few years, the “brothers” started having differences over some political issues and their relationship soured when, against the wishes of Lalu, people of their own caste, “Kurmi Chetna Maharli” at Gandhi Maidan on February 12, 1994, against Lalu’s wishes. attended the rally. After addressing this rally, Nitish came out of Lalu’s shadow and took his political line.
But Nitish’s aspiration to emerge as an alternative to Lalu suffered a setback when his newly formed Samata Party won just seven of the 310 seats it contested in the 1995 elections.
However, the party’s prospects brightened in 1996. Lok Sabha When elections, in alliance with the BJP, it won eight seats, six in Bihar alone. Nitish’s alliance BJP In 1996, lasted for 17 years without stopping: Nitish became the Railway Minister in the Vajpayee government and during this time became the CM of Bihar thrice with the help of BJP.
But in 2013, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was made BJP’s campaign chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, after which the JD(U) left the NDA. But going it alone in the 2014 elections proved disastrous for Nitish as the JD(U) could win just two of the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats – 20 against the 20 in the 2009 election, prompting him to forge an alliance with the RJD. did. and Congress in the 2015 assembly elections.
Whenever Nitish has gone alone, he has always suffered a setback. On the other hand, on all seven occasions he became chief minister, he could do so only with the help of allies: five times with the help of the BJP, and twice with the help of others, in 2015 when he became the chief minister of the grand alliance.