Timeline: Tracing Nitish Kumar’s Love-Hate Relationship | Top points

• Nitish
  got
  the
  first
  taste
  of
  victory,
  after
  three
  successive
  defeats,
  in
  the
  1985
  assembly
  polls
  when
  he
  won
  from
  Harnaut
  as
  a
  candidate
  of
  the
  Lok
  Dal
  though
  the
  Congress
  swept
  the
  elections
  riding
  the
  tailwind
  generated
  by
  the
  assassination
  of
  Indira
  Gandhi
  the
  previous
  year.

• Four
  years
  later
  in
  1989,
  Nitish
  entered
  the
  Lok
  Sabha
  from
  Barh
  even
  as
  fellow
  MP
  from
  Saran
  Lalu
  Prasad
  shifted
  to
  Bihar,
  taking
  over
  as
  the
  chief
  minister
  and
  scripting
  a
  spectacular
  success
  story
  which
  altered
  the
  state’s
  political
  landscape.
  Kumar,
  one
  of
  the
  most
  articulate
  leaders
  of
  the
  Janata
  Dal,
  had
  fully
  backed
  Lalu
  in
  the
  keenly
  fought
  internal
  contest
  for
  chief
  ministership.

• The
  next
  decade-and-a-half
  saw
  Prasad’s
  rise
  as
  one
  of
  the
  most
  powerful
  but
  controversial
  figures
  of
  his
  time
  who
  ruled
  the
  state
  by
  proxy,
  getting
  his
  demure
  homemaker
  wife
  Rabri
  Devi
  elected
  as
  his
  successor,
  when
  a
  charge
  sheet
  in
  fodder
  scam
  caused
  him
  to
  step
  down
  as
  the
  chief
  minister.

• In
  1994,
  Kumar
  burnt
  his
  bridges
  with
  Prasad,
  floated
  the
  Samata
  Party
  with
  George
  Fernandes,
  and
  built
  his
  own
  political
  edifice
  brick
  by
  brick.
  The
  Samata
  Party
  joined
  forces
  with
  the
  BJP
  and
  Kumar
  made
  a
  mark
  for
  himself
  as
  an
  outstanding
  parliamentarian
  and
  was
  reckoned
  among
  the
  competent
  ministers
  in
  the
  Atal
  Bihari
  Vajpayee
  cabinet.

• After
  a
  rift
  between
  Sharad
  Yadav,
  the
  then
  Janata
  Dal
  president,
  and
  Lalu
  Prasad,
  the
  latter
  broke
  away
  and
  formed
  the
  RJD.
  The
  Samata
  Party
  merged
  with
  Sharad
  Yadav’s
  Janata
  Dal
  while
  continuing
  its
  alliance
  with
  the
  BJP.

• In
  2000,
  Nitish
  was
  first
  elected
  to
  office
  when
  JD(U)
  was
  an
  NDA
  member.
  However,
  he
  resigned
  days
  after
  he
  took
  oath,
  but
  before
  he
  could
  prove
  his
  numbers
  NDA
  and
  its
  allies
  had
  151
  seats,
  Lalu
  Prasad
  Yadav’s
  RJD
  had
  159
  MLAs
  both
  falling
  short
  of
  the
  required
  163
  seats.

• In
  the
  year
  2003
  –
  Sharad
  Yadav’s
  Janata
  Dal
  merged
  with
  Samta
  party
  forming
  Janata
  Dal
  United,
  with
  Nitish
  at
  the
  helm.

• After
  the
  NDA
  lost
  power
  in
  2004,
  a
  victory
  in
  Bihar
  held
  out
  the
  promise
  of
  a
  degree
  of
  redemption
  for
  the
  BJP-led
  alliance.

• In
  the
  polls
  held
  in
  November
  2005,
  he
  came
  back
  to
  power
  as
  an
  NDA
  member.
  JD(U)
  was
  the
  majority
  seat
  winner
  with
  BJP
  ranking
  second.
  Attempts
  to
  wrest
  power
  from
  the
  RJD-Congress
  combine,
  then
  in
  power
  at
  the
  Centre
  as
  well,
  after
  the
  NDA
  fell
  short
  of
  a
  majority
  in
  the
  assembly
  polls
  of
  February,
  2005,
  were
  stymied
  by
  Governor
  Buta
  Singh’s
  controversial
  move
  to
  dissolve
  the
  assembly,
  without
  it
  having
  even
  been
  constituted,
  in
  the
  face
  of
  alleged
  horse-trading.
  This,
  however,
  proved
  a
  blessing
  in
  disguise
  for
  Kumar
  who
  was
  projected
  as
  the
  chief
  ministerial
  candidate
  in
  the
  elections
  that
  took
  place
  nine
  months
  later,
  and
  the
  JD(U)-BJP
  combine
  got
  a
  comfortable
  majority,
  bringing
  the
  so-called
  “Lalu
  era”
  to
  an
  end.

• In
  2010,
  Kumar’s
  party
  swept
  back
  to
  power
  along
  with
  its
  then
  allies,
  the
  Bharatiya
  Janata
  Party,
  and
  he
  again
  became
  Chief
  Minister.
  The
  alliance
  won
  206
  seats,
  while
  the
  RJD
  won
  22.
  The
  period,
  however,
  also
  saw
  the
  end
  of
  “Atal-Advani
  era”
  in
  the
  BJP
  and
  Kumar,
  who
  could
  not
  fathom
  the
  potential
  of
  his
  then
  Gujarat
  counterpart
  Narendra
  Modi,
  locked
  horns
  with
  him
  over
  the
  post-Godhra
  riots
  in
  the
  western
  state.

• Flaunting
  his
  secular
  ideology,
  Kumar
  had
  succeeded
  in
  preventing
  Modi,
  seen
  as
  a
  polarising
  figure
  on
  account
  of
  the
  Gujarat
  riots,
  from
  campaigning
  for
  the
  BJP
  Bihar
  in
  2009
  Lok
  Sabha
  polls
  and
  the
  assembly
  elections
  a
  year
  later,
  something
  that
  still
  riles
  Hindutva
  hardliners.

• He
  ultimately
  snapped
  his
  party’s
  17-year-old
  ties
  with
  the
  BJP
  in
  2013
  when
  Modi
  was
  anointed
  the
  BJP’s
  campaign
  committee
  chief
  for
  the
  2014
  Lok
  Sabha
  polls.

• After
  parting
  ways
  with
  the
  BJP,
  he
  won
  a
  trust
  vote
  with
  the
  support
  of
  the
  Congress,
  but
  stepped
  down
  in
  2014,
  owning
  moral
  responsibility
  for
  the
  JD(U)’s
  drubbing
  in
  the
  Lok
  Sabha
  elections,
  when
  the
  party
  returned
  with
  a
  dismal
  tally
  of
  just
  two.

• In
  less
  than
  a
  year,
  he
  was
  back
  as
  the
  chief
  minister,
  elbowing
  out
  his
  rebellious
  protégé
  Jitan
  Ram
  Manjhi
  with
  ample
  support
  from
  the
  RJD
  and
  the
  Congress,
  and
  came
  to
  be
  seen
  nationally
  as
  a
  potential
  challenger
  to
  Modi.

• The
  Grand
  Alliance
  that
  came
  into
  being
  with
  the
  JD(U),
  Congress
  and
  RJD
  coming
  together,
  won
  the
  2017
  assembly
  polls
  handsomely
  but
  came
  apart
  in
  just
  two
  years,
  after
  Kumar
  insisted
  that
  Lalu’s
  son
  and
  deputy
  chief
  minister
  Tejashwi
  Yadav,
  whose
  name
  had
  cropped
  up
  in
  a
  money
  laundering
  case
  related
  to
  the
  time
  when
  RJD
  supremo
  was
  the
  railway
  minister,
  “come
  clear”
  on
  the
  issue.
  He
  abruptly
  resigned
  as
  the
  chief
  minister
  as
  the
  RJD
  refused
  to
  budge,
  only
  to
  be
  back
  in
  the
  office
  in
  less
  than
  24
  hours
  with
  BJP’s
  support.
  Those
  who
  saw
  a
  “secular
  alternative”
  in
  Kumar
  felt
  let
  down
  and
  cried
  betrayal
  of
  “public
  mandate”.

Nitish
Kumar,
though
enfeebled
by
electoral
reverses,
is
back
in
the
hot
seat,
belying
the
prophets
of
doom.