"It was hurtful": AAP's Sanjay Singh on Nitish Kumar's exit from INDIA bloc
Apr 07, 2024
New Delhi [India], April 7 : Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi excise case recently, on Sunday said that the exit of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar from the INDIA bloc was 'hurtful' for him.
Singh was a key member in alliance discussions before his arrest in October last year. At that time, the Janata Dal (United) president and Bihar Chief Minister was vocal against the BJP-led NDA.
"It was hurtful. Nitish Kumar comes from Samajwadi Andolan (Socialist movement), he has been with Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan. He (Nitish Kumar) kept switching sides like that. It was not good at all...The people of Bihar supported Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan, who gave the slogan of a complete revolution. They (people) won't support Nitish Kumar," Singh said.
Switching sides for the fifth time in just over a decade, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA earlier this year, less than 18 months after he left the alliance, and took oath as the Bihar Chief Minister for the ninth time.
Since 2013, this was the fifth time that Kumar has changed sides. After snapping ties with the BJP in 2013, Kumar got outside support from parties like the Congress, CPI, and a disgruntled faction of the RJD.
A year later, though, he stepped down, taking moral responsibility for the JD(U)'s drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections.
Kumar returned to the NDA in 2017, hoping to get some traction after taking a stand against the corruption taint on his then deputy Tejashwi Yadav.
In August 2022, he again snapped ties with the BJP, accusing it of trying to "split" the JD(U), and joined the Mahagathbandhan. He formed a new government with a multi-party coalition that included the RJD and Congress.