How Nitish Kumar is rolling the dice ahead of the 2019 general election

If he walks out of NDA, Paswan and Kushwaha would too. Speculation is that the three might even float an alliance outside the NDA as a 'third force' in Bihar

Political trapeze artist that he is, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is currently busy playing a balancing act.

A couple of weeks back, one of Kumar’s close advisors met the top Congress leadership. He wanted to explore what Congress thought of Kumar returning to the ‘grand alliance’.

Aware of the advisor’s links with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Congress said all decisions about Bihar were being taken by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s Tejashwi Yadav.

Then came the by-elections results. Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) lost the Jokihat assembly seat to RJD. Not merely the consolidation of RJD’s Muslim