Nitish Kumar resigns again; what it means for Bihar politics

Breaking away from the 'mahagathbandhan' alliance, JD(U) president Nitish Kumar submitted his resignation letter to governor Rajendra V Arlekar on Sunday only to take oath as Bihar chief minister for the record 9th time with BJP support. (Image credit: ANI)

The new government of Bihar is likely to have two deputy chief ministers with Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Sinha of the BJP taking the spot. (Image credit: PTI)

Expressing his dissatisfaction with the way things were turning out in INDIA bloc, Nitish Kumar said, "You all know how I came to this alliance and also how I worked to bring together so many parties. But of late, things were not working well. It was not going down well with those in my party as well". (Image credit: PTI)

Currently, JD(U) has 45 members in Bihar's assembly. With the support of BJP and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), NDA's total tally will become 127 which is five more than half mark required to prove majority in the 243-member assembly. (Image credit: PTI)

The RJD has 79 members, the Congress has 19 and the Left parties have 16 MLAs in the state assembly, making it a total of 114, eight short of a majority. (Image credit: ANI)

Comparing Nitish Kumar to a 'chameleon', Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "Nitish Kumar, who frequently changes political partners, is giving tough competition to the chameleons in changing colours." (Image credit: ANI)

Reacting to the political twist, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Lalu Prasad Yadav had hinted about this development five days ago, I had spoken to him in detail about the situation, what is the number, what is their number, and what to do." (Image credit: PTI)

Taking a swipe at Nitish Kumar, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tagged a 2017 post of his on X where he had said, "Word of the day! Definition of snollygoster US dialect: a shrewd, unprincipled politician." Not naming anyone in the post he said, "Didn't realise it would be the Word of Another Day too! Snollygoster."

Taking a dig at Nitish Kumar's fourth political switch, Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal said in a post on X, "Ayodhya, Bihar. Talk of: Ram Rajya at Ayodhya and showcase 'Aaya Ram Gaya Ram in Bihar'!" further adding, "What say you Modi ji?" (Image credit: Kapil Sibal's X)

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Rohini Acharya took a swipe at Nitish Kumar saying, the "garbage has gone into the dustbin", referring to him forming government with the support of BJP. (Image credit: Rohini Acharya's X)

Calling out on Nitish Kumar, Tesjashwi Yadav and PM Modi to 'apologise to the people of Bihar', AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said, "I want to ask Tejaswi Yadav how does it feel? He took away four of our MLAs. Does he feel the same pain now? He has been played the same way he played us." (Image credit: ANI)

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan expressed his support for Nitish Kumar as a 'person' saying, "We are part of NDA. We would wait to see whether the JD(U) president actually leaves 'mahagathbandhan' and joins the BJP-led alliance. Then we will take our stand. But we have no issue with Nitish Kumar as a person." (Image credit: ANI)