INDIA ally Nitish Kumar to return to BJP-led NDA? But conditions apply: Report

Speculation are rife that Bihar Chief Minister and INDIA bloc ally Nitish Kumar might return to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). India Today cited BJP sources as saying on Thursday that the BJP has set a condition for the JD(U) chief if he wants to return to the alliance. And that condition is: Nitish Kumar must quit as the chief minister, sources said.

Meanwhile, as saying that Nitish Kumar is set to return to the NDA and is currently mulling legal options to dissolve state assembly.

Amid the speculations, Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai claimed that the opposition alliance INDIA bloc would disintegrate due to dissatisfaction among its allies. He asserted that several key allies, including Mamata Banerjee's TMC, Sharad Pawar's NCP, and Nitish Kumar's JD(U), were drifting away, signalling the end of the alliance.

"Mamata Banerjee has already exited the alliance, and Sharad Pawar is likely to follow suit. Nitish Kumar has taken a step outside the alliance. The INDI alliance will not endure much longer as parties withdraw due to the attitude of Congress leaders. It won't exist when Narendra Modi becomes Prime Minister for the third time," Bommai was quoted by ANI as saying on Thursday.

Nitish Kumar is a key figure in the INDIA coalition who switched from the BJP two years ago. The INDIA bloc suffered a huge setback on Wednesday as Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said that her party declared that the Trinamool Congress would fight alone in Bengal.