'I had by mistake aligned with them': Nitish Kumar snubs Lalu's offer of future alliance

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday snubbed the RJD, headed by his arch-rival Lalu Prasad, stating that he had forged alliances "by mistake" with the opposition party which "did nothing" while in power.

The JD(U) supremo made the remark days after Prasad, a former CM himself, had claimed that the RJD was keeping its "doors open" for the former ally, who is now back in the BJP-led NDA.

Talking to reporters in the north Bihar district of Muzaffarpur, as part of a state-wide Pragati Yatra, Kumar said, "Those who were in power before us... did they do anything? People used to fear stepping out of their homes after sunset. I had by mistake ('galti se') aligned with them a couple of times." "What was the condition of women back then? Today you can see these self-help groups, which we gave the name Jivika. The Centre replicated our model and called it Ajivika. Did you see such confident rural women earlier," asked the longest-serving CM of the state.

Kumar, however, did not take questions about the cryptic "offer" from Prasad, which was made light of by the RJD supremo's son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, but endorsed by ally Congress.

Prasad's comments had come in the backdrop of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's equivocal stance on projecting Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate in the assembly polls due in less than a year.

State BJP leaders, on their part, have been maintaining that the JD(U) supremo will be the "face" of the NDA in the 2025 assembly elections.

The BJP, which fell short of a majority in the Lok Sabha polls, depends on allies like JD(U) and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's TDP to survive in power at the Centre.