A fierce political storm erupted between the Janata Dal (United) and the Congress on Thursday following revelations in Sonia Gandhi's memoir detailing Nitish Kumar's dramatic January 2024 exit from the Opposition INDIA bloc.
Sonia pulled no punches. In her newly released book, Belonging: A Journey of Love, the veteran Congress leader accused the Bihar Chief Minister of walking out of a critical strategy session on a flimsy pretext while orchestrating a pre-planned defection back to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Democratic Alliance.
Gandhi recounted the episode with sharp scepticism:
In January (2024) came another setback, when one of our main allies, the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, abruptly walked out of a meeting, making a feeble excuse. It felt strange: Something was afoot. True enough, the news came: He had rejoined Modi's NDA. It had clearly been planned.
Sonia Gandhi, Congress Leader, in *Belonging: A Journey of Love*
Leadership inside the JD(U) struck back within hours. Party national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha dismissed Gandhi's claims as personal and below-the-belt attacks against a leader who spent decades in public administration. Jha insisted that Kumar did not abandon the coalition—he built it.
Kumar had crisscrossed the nation to stitch together disparate regional players, culminating in the coalition's foundational conclave in Patna in June 2023. Jha stressed that several regional satraps initially demanded an anti-BJP coalition that excluded the Congress entirely. Kumar refused. He held the line, insisting that no viable national alternative could emerge without the grand old party at the table.
Yet the alliance quickly frayed. Jha argued that Gandhi's memoir deliberately glossed over the internal friction that drove Kumar away. The coalition, Jha said, degenerated into a vehicle for narrow personal and regional ambitions rather than a cohesive front against the NDA.
| Event Timeline | Political Development | Key Players Involved |
|---|---|---|
| June 2023 | First INDIA bloc strategy conclave convened in Patna | Nitish Kumar, Opposition Leaders |
| January 2024 | Kumar walks out of Opposition meeting; rejoins NDA | Nitish Kumar, Narendra Modi |
| January 2024 | Kumar takes oath as Bihar CM for a record ninth time | Nitish Kumar, Bihar Raj Bhavan |
| Current | Gandhi's memoir Belonging triggers public row | Sonia Gandhi, Sanjay Kumar Jha |
The rupture in January 2024 dealt an immediate blow to the Opposition's parliamentary arithmetic just months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Kumar resigned as head of the Mahagathbandhan government, severed ties with his state allies, and walked back into the NDA fold. Hours later, he took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for a record ninth time.
Nitish Kumar made his move. The Opposition fractured. And the fallout continues to rattle both camps as the two sides clash over who sabotaged the alliance first.