Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday curtly reacted to his deputy Tejashwi Yadav’s absence from governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar’s high-tea event. “Joh nahi aaye unse puchiye (Ask those who did not come),” he said.

The remark came amid reports that Kumar is planning to exit the Mahagathbandhan and join the BJP-led NDA.

Speculations are rife that Nitish Kumar may rejoin the BJP-led NDA as reports claimed that is unhappy with the current ‘Mahagathbandhan’ – which includes the Congress, RJD, and three other Left parties supporting the government. These rumours first began when RJD supremo Lalu Yadav’s daughter Rohini Acharya on Thursday said that Kumar is “changing his ideology as the winds change its direction” in a now-deleted X post.

Adding fuel to the rumours, both JD(U) and RJD held separate meetings on Thursday night to hold discussions regarding the developments with the party’s top leadership.

Along with this, BJP leader Sushil Modi on Friday said that the saffron party never “fully closed” the doors for Nitish. “As far as Kumar or the JD(U) are concerned, doors are never permanently closed in politics. Closed doors open when the time comes but whether they will open or not is for our central leadership to decide,” the BJP leader said, as quoted by PTI.

While it is still not clear whether the JD(U) supremo has finalised a deal with the BJP brass, Kumar has expressed discontent with the INDIA bloc several times recently, especially after he did not get a position in the top leadership of the alliance.

JD(U)’s reaction

Meanwhile, Kumar’s party JD(U) has maintained that they are “firmly” with the opposition INDIA bloc, but wanted the Congress to do “introspection” in regards to alliance partners and sharing of seats.

“INDIA gathbandhan salamat hai (Everything is fine in the alliance),” JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said earlier. Responding to Lalu Yadav’s daughter’s post on Kumar, Tyagi said, “We do not comment on children’s comments.”