Nitish Kumar, a veteran politician, has gained a degree in electrical engineering, a field that he never followed. By his four decades of electoral politics, he has mastered political engineering that paved the path for his unique hike in the post of CM in Bihar. In Aug-10 he took oath as CM for the eighth time, with the support of the BJP six times and twice with the support of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

The world of politics is not a descendant choice of his career. With the aim of a well-paying and good job he left his home in Bakhtiyarpur for higher education and went to Patna in 1966.

The voyage of Mr Kumar is starting with big defeats. In 1980 after years of grouping around on the margins, he finally got a chance to contest in the Bihar election from his home district of Nalanda. But he lost it. It was only the beginning of a spike in his career. His critics also appreciated his determination in the face of defeat until he confirmed a seat in 1985 by a margin of over 20000 votes.

At first, he shook hands with Lalu Prasad and helped him become a right hand, whenever he needed.  In March 1990 Mr Kumar had taken a big role in getting support for Mr Prasad for the Party’s CM post.

This political affinity had broken within two years and Mr Kumar with Mr Prasad was no longer on one way.

Split with Lalu

The real break took place in April 1994. A group of 14 JD MPs lined up behind George Fernandes and named the group Janata Dal revolting against Mr Prasad. Mr Kumar was its creator. On October 19, 1994, this group was renamed to the Sanata Party with a mythic moto-Bihar Bachao (Save Bihar from Mr Prasad), which started a long period of perilous days between these two.

Even though the newly – formatted party got seven seats in the 1955 Bihar Assembly Election, the road ahead was not smooth for them. As a program for strengthening the health and wealth of their side, Mr Kumar met L.K Advani, the president of the BJP, and at a stroke, an alliance mushroomed between the two. In all these years the BJP assisted him on his way to good days.

In 1997, Mr Prasad formed RJP, by parting ways with Janata Dal giving good hope for opposition. But the flagship firm of Mr Kumar squandered away their chance by leaving the allies with Ram Vilas Paswan and shared Yadav’s Janata Dal ahead of the 2000 Assembly polls.

The result reflected their difference very starkly; BJP got 122 seats and RJD gained 124. NDA, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the centre appointed Mr Kumar as CM for the first time. But he sat just seven days in the post. In June 2013, just a week after the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi was selected as Committee Chief of the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha election2014 that changed the mindset of Mr Kumar against the BJP cost him dear and did not give room for complacency. He lost the power of the State.

In politics, alliances change in no time. The BJP emphasized abuses on Mr Kumar in 2014 when he took an opposite stand against Mr Modi. But in 2017 NDA was forgotten and forgiven when he returned to them.

It was not Vajpayee’s BJP when he returned to, in the next Assembly election in November 2020. They were no longer satisfied with their second role in the State. That’s why they took Chirag Paswan to hurt and breach the impregnable movements of JD (U).

But in no time JD (U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh claimed that the BJP was trying to replicate the Maharashtra model in Bihar and to halt in the run-up for elections. Kumar had made up his mind to leave NDA court, but RJD still did not trust him by the 2017 hangover. It took the two sides nearly three months to ally.

But, the obvious quest in everyone’s mind now is how long will this alliance live. That is a big challenge for Mr Kumar to fix all accountabilities and play a good role in national politics when his parting message to BJP was: you may have come to power in 2014 but will you remain in power beyond 2024? But will he, in this time dream an uncertain exploration in Delhi?