Nitish Kumar does it again: INDIA bloc must re-pitch itself

livemint.com:

Nitish Kumar has done it again. On Sunday, his Janata Dal (United) dumped the opposition’s “INDIA" grouping barely months before Lok Sabha polls to return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He took oath as Bihar’s chief minister again, this time with BJP support.

His flip-flops are a constant of Indian politics, but this time the blow delivered to anti-BJP mobilization is very heavy. After all, he was one of the prime movers of INDIA, a joint front that began to wobble soon after the Ayodhya temple consecration, seen by some as a BJP show of strength. As local speculation goes, Nitish Kumar had expected leadership of the alliance, but the Congress was not ready to cede that space.

At the end, an aura of invincibility acquired by the BJP is surmised to have altered his calculus. The Congress was quick to label it come-and-go politics, but that doesn’t relieve it of the burden of remaking a coherent case for the INDIA bloc’s viability as a challenge to the country’s ruling dispensation. As the cliche goes, a week is a long time in politics.

The past week qualifies as one. But then, no election is over till the last vote is counted. Certitude is usually overrated.