Patna, Jan 28 (Reporter) Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has remained at the helm of affairs in Bihar almost for the last 18 years, dumping old allies and striking up fresh alliances at his political convenience, while dubbing his manoeuvrings every time as steps taken in the interest of his state. Kumar, with the support of the BJP had became Chief Minister in 2005, promising to end what he called the 'jungle raj' in Lalu Prasad Yadav's Bihar. The term 'jungle raj' was used by the Patna High Court for complete lawlessness in Bihar during one and half decades of RJD rule in the state. There was then a deep public resentment about the law and order situation as criminals were striking at their will, threatening the safety and security of the common man. The Chief Minister enjoyed the vast support of the people as he headed an NDA government. He was voted to power again in 2010 Bihar Assembly elections, with a landslide majority. His popularity was at an all-time high with rapid development in all sectors including the construction of infrastructural facilities like roads and bridges for better communication. After returning to power in 2010, Kumar focussed on improving the power scenario in the state which resulted in the availability of more than 20 hours even in remote areas, while state capital Patna, the district headquarters and other towns got round-the-clock power supply. Kumar started changing his ruling partners after BJP projected Narendra Modi as its PM candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Kumar did not hesitate to snap ties with the BJP in 2013 itself. After ditching the BJP, Kumar formed a Grand Alliance in 2015 with his party JD(U), RJD and Congress as its constituents. The Grand Alliance government headed by him was voted to power in the 2015 Assembly elections with Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tejaswi Prasad Yadav as Deputy Chief Minister. Family members of Lalu Prasad including Tejaswi Prasad Yadav were facing charges of corruption, particularly in connection with the alleged land-for-job scam in the Railways. Exploiting the issue to his advantage, Kumar conveniently walked away from the Grand Alliance and joined hands with the BJP in 2017, to again form an NDA government in Bihar. In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, NDA returned to power, but JD(U)'s tally reduced drastically. But in two years, In 2022, Kumar again deserted his partner BJP alleging it was trying to create a split in JD(U). He joined hands with RJD, Congress and Left parties to form the second Grand Alliance government on August 10, 2022. But once again Kumar turned away from his partners After 17 months and cozied up to the BJP to form the NDA government again on January 28. During his tenure in Grand Alliance, he made efforts to unite all anti-NJP opposition parties at the national level which resulted in the launch of the opposition INDIA bloc. Kumar nursed an ambition to lead the alliance INDIA to take on BJP in this year's Lok Sabha elections, but he was not given such an opportunity. The reluctance of Congress to accept him as leader of INDIA bloc, shattered his dream to emerge as the PM candidate of the opposition alliance. Since hen, he was trying to find a suitable reason to walk out from the INDIA block and the delay in seat sharing by the Congress provided him the opportunity. On the occasion of the birth centenary of former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, Kumar obliquely slammed RJD chief Lalu Prasad for promoting his son in politics following which Rohini Acharya, daughter of Lalu dubbed him as A leader with no principle. As Acharya and other leaders of RJD targeted Kumar, he used it as one more reason to walk away from Grand Alliance. s Kumar has dubbed all his "U" turns in politics as steps taken in the interest of Bihar. After taking oath as Chief Minister for the ninth time, Kumar reiterated that he had decided to join hands with the BJP to form an NDA government to accelerate the pace of development of Bihar. Ruling partners of the Grand Alliance were not allowing him to function properly, in the larger interest of Bihar, he pointed out. It remains to be seen whether Kumar will continue in NDA or again switch sides in the future...////...