A look at 'Paltu Ram' Nitish Kumar's major political turnarounds

JDU chief Nitish Kumar has snapped tied with BJP. Again.

This isn't the first time eight-time chief minister of Bihar has broken off from an alliance. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had derisively named Kumar as "paltu ram", a person who took repeated 'U-turns', after he walked out of the RJD-JD(U)-Congress grand alliance in 2017 and joined hands with the BJP.

In October 2019, Yadav had described Kumar as a "chameleon-like" character and had ruled out any possibility in the future of him returning to the secular alliance fold.


Here is a look at some of his major flip-flops...
In 1996, two years after forming the Samata Party with George Fernandes, Nitish switched loyalties to the BJP and was made minister in Atal Bihar Vajpayee's cabinet.

In 2003, years after Lalu Prasad Yadav formed the RJD after his split with Sharad Yadav, Nitish Kumar decided to merge his Samata Party with Janata Dal. The new alliance was named Janata Dal (United).

In 2013, he broke ranks with the NDA after a 17-year alliance following the announcement of Narendra Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

Kumar, who harboured prime ministerial ambitions himself, took offence with BJP nominating Modi for the top post.

In 2017, Kumar forged a grand alliance with RJD and Congress and returned as chief minister in 2015. He walked out of the grand alliance in 2017, accusing the RJD of corruption and choking governance in the state.

In 2022, Nitish Kumar snapped ties with the BJP once again, alleging the BJP was conspiring against him and trying to influence JD-U MLAs to rebel against him.