Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tej Pratap Yadav launched a scathing attack on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for dumping his party and grand alliance saying the Janata Dal (United) president should be honoured with the ‘Girgit (chameleon) Ratna’ award for frequently changing his political loyalty.

Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of RJD veteran and former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was serving as a cabinet minister in the mahagathbandhan government in Bihar, took to X (formerly Twitter) and said, “Chameleon is infamous for changing their skin …Paltis Kumar should also be honoured with Chameleon Ratna award for frequently changing his political loyalty…for his speed of colour change.”

Political scenarios turned upside down in Bihar on Sunday, after state chief minister and Janta Dal (United) (JDU) president Nitish Kumar ditched the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government, he had joined less than 18 months ago and broke its ties with RJD and returned to the BJP-led NDA. This marked the fourth time Kumar made a crossover between coalitions. He had been switching sides since 2013 over ideological disputes.

While tendering his resignation, Kumar said that the decision to dissolve the ‘mahagathbandhan’ government was taken after observing unprecedented conditions in the coalition. “Situations within the coalition were not favourable. I tendered my resignation today after considering all the views from leaders of my party,” he said.

He later took the oath as the chief minister for the record ninth time with the support of BJP. Two of the saffron party leaders – Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha – also took the oath as deputy chief ministers. The list of ministers who took the oath on Sunday also included members of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (HAM-S) party and an independent MLA.

At present, in the Bihar Assembly of 243 members, the RJD has 79 MLAs; followed by the BJP at 78; JD(U) at 45, Congress at 19, the CPI (M-L) at 12, CPI(M) and CPI at 2 each, and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular)’s at 4. Another two seats are with the AIMIM and an Independent.

(With inputs from agencies)