Nitish Kumar resigns as Bihar CM. What led to this political crisis?

Nitish Kumar resigned as the Chief Minister of Bihar after meeting Governor Phagu Singh Chauhan at the Raj Bhavan on Tuesday. He said that the decision was taken after discussing the issue with party MPs and MLAs. 

#WATCH | All MPs and MLAs reached a consensus that we should leave the NDA. Soon after, I resigned as Bihar CM, says Nitish Kumar.#Bihar pic.twitter.com/ov8ds5ughO

— ANI (@ANI) August 9, 2022

After resigning, Nitish Kumar went to visit former Bihar CM Rabri Devi at her residence.

Earlier in the day, Nitish had called off its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar. The decision was taken by Kumar after a meeting with JD(U) MLAs and MPs. He had also called for a meeting with Bihar governor Phagu Singh Chauhan at Raj Bhawan at 4 pm.

Not a surprise: The decision by Nitish Kumar doesn't come as a surprise at all. In the past few weeks, Kumar missed no chance to snub BJP. The differences came to the forefront again on Sunday, August 7, when he skipped the NITI Aayog meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This was the fourth such meeting where Kumar remained absent.

• On July 17, he skipped the meeting called by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on matters relating to the national flag.
• On July 22, he skipped a dinner hosted by PM Modi for former President Ram Nath Kovind.
• On July 25, he remained absent from the swearing-in ceremony of President Droupadi Murmu.

Why Nitish Kumar left NDA: Nitish Kumar was said to be miffed with the BJP over a number of issues. 

Differences with Bihar Assembly Speaker: Nitish Kumar had his reservations against Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha and he wanted him removed. Kumar had also lashed out at Sinha for openly questioning the government. 

Nationalism: Nitish Kumar is also reportedly upset with certain leaders in Bihar BJP who continue to talk too much about repealing Article 370 and nationalism, issues that Kumar is not comfortable with. Kumar had complained about this to Home Minister Amit Shah at the two-day national level meeting, the Indian Express reported.

Cabinet berths: JD(U) was offered only one berth by the Narendra Modi government in 2019. So, in the recent cabinet expansion in Bihar, Nitish Kumar included eight of his party members in the cabinet and left only one for the BJP.

Opposition to BJP's policies: During the Agnipath protests, Nitish Kumar largely remained silent as violence engulfed Bihar. Several senior leaders of his party like Upendra Kushwaha and Lalan Singh urged the Centre to initiate dialogue with the protesters.

Nitish Kumar and the BJP: The two contested together under NDA in the 2021 Bihar assembly polls. The BJP won 74 seats while JD (U) had to contend with mere 43 seats. It was a big electoral low for Kumar whose party's tally went from 71 in the 2015 assembly elections to 43 in 2020.

Despite this, Nitish Kumar with NDA had the mandate with 125 seats and was sworn in as the CM of Bihar. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Nitish Kumar because he knew that the strings of power were in the hands of the BJP and he might be replaced as the CM any day.

Not the first time Kumar quit BJP:  This isn't the first time the veteran politician, NItish Kumar, has severed his ties with the BJP. In 2013, while in power with NDA in Bihar, he broke the alliance with the saffron party that lasted nearly 17 years. Kumar then had his differences with Narendra Modi who was appointed the PM face in the 2014 general elections.

In 2015, he fought the assembly election of Bihar in alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Indian National Congress (INC). The alliance was called Mahagatabandhan. To stop the juggernaut of Narendra Modi after the 2014 landslide win at the Centre, Kumar also buried the hatchet with Lalu Prasad Yadav. 

The Mahagathbandan won the election with 178 seats while the NDA was restricted to 58 seats. But, this government was short-lived. On July 26, 2017, Nitish Kumar broke his ties with RJD and made an exit from Mahagatabandhan. He got support from BJP MLAs, and the same day he was again sworn in as the CM of Bihar.

A government with RJD on cards: Nitish Kumar might once again forge an alliance with the RJD and form a government in Bihar. He already has the support of the Congress Party. In the 2021 assembly polls, the Tejashwi Yadav -led RJD emerged as the single largest party winning 75 seats while Congress won 19.