Sonia Gandhi Memoir Says Nitish Kumar Sought INDIA Bloc Exit

Sonia Gandhi’s memoir says Nitish Kumar was looking for an opportunity to leave the INDIA bloc before he rejoined the National Democratic Alliance in January 2024, prompting competing responses from the Congress and Janata Dal (United), or JD(U).

In Belonging: A Journey of Love, Gandhi describes Kumar’s departure as planned rather than impulsive and says he left an opposition leaders’ meeting shortly before the 2024 general election. She wrote that he made what she regarded as a weak excuse and suggested he was under the BJP’s influence. The memoir’s account presents the exit as part of wider difficulties in holding the opposition alliance together.

JD(U) MP Sanjay Kumar Jha defended Kumar’s contribution to forming the alliance, saying he brought opposition leaders together and organised its first meeting in Patna. Jha also criticised the memoir’s remarks about a senior politician. His response did not establish why Kumar left the bloc.

Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan said JD(U) should explain the circumstances of the departure and echoed the memoir’s account that Kumar had been seeking an opportunity to exit. Khan also alleged that Kumar had been under pressure. Those...