Another Chance To Nitish Kumar? What Tejashwi Yadav Told NDTV

With a year to go for the Bihar Assembly polls, Mr Yadav ruled out any possibility of another tie-up with the Nitish Kumar-led JDU

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been reduced to the state government's mask, and a handful of BJP leaders are running the government from behind him, Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav told NDTV in an exclusive interview. "The Chief Minister has nothing now. He is just a mask now. A handful of people from the BJP are running the government," he said.

With a year to go for the Bihar Assembly polls, Mr Yadav ruled out any possibility of another tie-up with the Nitish Kumar-led JDU, a former ally known for repeated flip-flops across the political aisle. "There is no point (of a tie-up). We have given him several opportunities. We didn't go to him. He came here. He folded hands before my mother (former CM Rabri Devi). He publicly apologised in Vidhan Sabha. And then he left. Nitish Kumar ji likes no one except himself," he said.

The past two decades have been a series of flip-flops by Nitish Kumar. Following the 2015 Bihar polls, when JDU and Tejashi Yadav's RJD scripted a stunning win, Mr Kumar took over as Chief Minister with Mr Yadav as deputy. Two years later, he switched allies and tied up with the BJP, retaining his Chief Minister seat. 2022 saw another switch and Mr Kumar ditched the BJP to return to an alliance with RJD. This January, another flip-flop saw him go back to the NDA camp.