ABP-CVoter Snap Poll: Can Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Join NDA Again? Here's What Voters Think

A section of media has been speculating that Bihar CM Nitish Kumar was miffed at not being made the convener of the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A and he might return to NDA.

New Delhi: Amid a buzz around Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returning to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with which his party Janata Dal (United) had severed ties a year back, ABP News, in association with CVoter, conducted a snap poll, trying to gauge the public opinion on the topic.

A section of media has been speculating that CM Nitish Kumar was miffed at not being made the convener of the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A and that his exchange of pleasantries with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recently concluded G20 Summit in New Delhi had more to it than what meets the eye.

ABP-CVoter conducted a survey on whether the voters think that CM Nitish Kumar is unhappy with the Opposition alliance not naming him its convener and if he is likely to return to NDA.

Of the respondents surveyed, including both NDA and Opposition voters, 31.8 per cent said ‘yes’ when asked if the JD(U) supremo might join NDA, while 30.1 per cent answered in the negative. Another 38.1 per cent stated that they “don’t know” or “can’t say”.

Significantly, 35.4 per cent of the NDA voters opined that it is likely that CM Kumar was upset with the Opposition not naming him I.N.D.I.A convener and that he would return to NDA, while 33.2 per cent of Opposition voters said they did not think likewise.

Meanwhile, 29.4 per cent of Opposition voters answered in the affirmative, while 25.5 per cent of NDA voters chose to disagree.

Notably, in many ways, the architect of the Opposition bloc, CM Nitish Kumar was conspicuous by his absence at the joint press briefing after the second meeting of the grand alliance in Mumbai. He was also reportedly not at one with the other alliance partners when it came to christening the bloc as I.N.D.I.A.

[Disclaimer: This survey was based on CVoter personal interviews conducted among 2,686 adults across India. Sometimes the table figures do not sum to 100 due to the effects of rounding off. The margin of error is +/- 3% at the macro level and +/- 5% at the micro level. We believe this will give the closest possible resemblance to the trends.]