‘ Nitish may leave NDA before polls’

Patna, Oct. 3: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said on Wednesday he foresees the possibility of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar doing yet another volte- face by walking out of the BJP- led NDA ahead of the next Lok Sabha election.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister alleged that Kumar, who heads the JD( U), an NDA constituent, cannot survive without power and said he may walk out of the ruling alliance if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity drops before the election.

“It takes only 24 hours for Kumar to make a volte- face. Lok Sabha elections are six months away. Palti ( U- turn) is possible,” Singh, who is in Patna on a private visit, told a news channel. Asked whether the Congress would welcome Kumar as an ally, Mr Singh said cryptically politics is the art of possibilities. Mr Singh has served as Congress incharge of Bihar before C P Joshi took over from him in 2013. The Rajya Sabha member’s remark on the possibility of Kumar’s switch to the

It takes only 24 hours for Kumar to make a volte- face. Lok Sabha elections are six months away. Palti ( U- turn) is possible. — Digvijaya Singh, Congress leader

Congress camp could also be a dig at Kumar, who had snapped his 17- yearold ties with the BJP in 2013, formed a Grand Alliance with the Congress and arch- rival Lalu Prasad a year later, but returned to the NDA last year. When he quit the Grand Alliance in July last year, Kumar had also resigned as chief minister of Bihar citing the “call of conscience”.

At that time, his government was drawing sever criticism from the BJP - then in Opposition.