The quick and the clueless

Nitish Kumar's action has three important political implications

With reference to the editorial, “BJP’s knockout punch” (July 27), the alliance between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad and their parties was one of convenience to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Bihar Assembly elections in 2015. Back then, Kumar ignored several cases of corruption against Prasad. However, when Kumar discovered that the contrast between the images of the two leaders was leading to diminishing returns for him, he used the excuse of allegations of corruption against Yadav’s son, Tejashwi Yadav, to break the Grand Alliance. Kumar’s decision was likely made keeping the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections in