Patna: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the principal opposition in Bihar headed by Lalu Prasad Yadav, has shut the door on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar whose party suffered humiliating defeats in the recent by-elections to one Lok Sabha and two state assembly seats. Kumar heads the ruling Janata Dal United (JD-U), which is a now a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The RJD said Kumar has the habit of winning elections with its support but ditching it after the polls and hence he has no place in the opposition’s Grand Alliance (GA). Kumar had broken way from the GA in July last year and joined the opposition NDA shortly after winning the last 2015 state elections in the company of the RJD and the Congress.

“We (RJD) will never ever have an alliance with the opportunist leader who has a habit of winning with our cadres but hobnobbing with the BJP and RSS after elections,” RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav told the media today.

He said Kumar was desperately exploring options to “come back to us and stitch an alliance”, but he wouldn’t succeed anymore. “Also, the man doesn’t have his support base which explains his party’s defeat in the recent bypolls,” he explained.

The “clarification” comes amid reports that Kumar was looking to quit the NDA. What lends credence to this is Kumar questioning the benefits of the NDA government’s demonetisation drive which he once strongly supported, and reiterating his demand for granting special category status to Bihar.

“The grant of special category status to Bihar will enhance the availability of resources by lowering the State contribution in Centrally-sponsored schemes, improve access to external resources, act as a catalyst for private investment based on tax breaks and concessions and act as a spur to employment generation and improve life quality,” Kumar explained in his recent missive to the 15th Finance Commission.

He added that the state has been a victim of neglect from the successive central governments. “The development of Bihar has been impeded historically due to lopsided policies, social and economic reasons. As a matter of fact, the Planning Commission and successive Finance Commissions have not been able to address the issue of inequality of growth among the states through fund transfers, leading to an increase in regional disparities and Bihar has been a major sufferer,” he added.

Apart from these, Kumar has indirectly disapproved off the “divisive” policy of its ally and also opposed three controversial issues of BJP, its ally, which include banning Triple Talaq, introduction of Uniform Civil Code and abrogation of Article 370 which confers special status on Jammu and Kashmir, amply indicating he is not happy in the company of the BJP.