Will he, won't he? All eyes on Nitish Kumar as Presidential elections near

The elections to the next President of India will be held in July 18 and both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition parties are set to give a final shape to their strategy and the candidates in the coming days.

But all eyes would be on Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar as he firms up his stand on the high-profile polls.

Kumar had taken a divergent line from his allies both in 2012 and 2017.

While he supported United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate and veteran Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee over former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma, who was a joint candidate of the BJP, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of Odisha, and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) of Tamil Nadu.

Kumar had then ditched the BJP, his trusted partner of years, and favoured the Congress nominee though with a caveat that he does not support the UPA policies. 

Kumar was joined by another trusted ally of the BJP, the Shiv Sena, in supporting Mukherjee who went on to become the 13th President of India. 

In 2017, Kumar was part of the 'mahagathbandhan (grand alliance)' and was leading a coalition government in Bihar with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad and the Congress being his junior partners. 

He had then supported NDA's Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit and then Bihar Governor, sending shock waves in the opposition camp. 

His argument was that the opposition took much time in deciding its candidate.

The Congress tried to outsmart him by naming former Lok Sabha Speaker and its prominent Dalit face Meira Kumar as the opposition nominee.

But it was too late for Kumar to change his mind. He stuck to his original decision of supporting Kovind. 

That was the beginning of the end of the 'mahagathbandhan' in Bihar as some months later Kumar parted ways with the RJD and the Congress and formed a government with the support of the BJP. 

He was back in the NDA camp within five years.

As the Presidential elections approach, Kumar is once again showing signs of exasperation with his alliance partners. He has been taking a completely divergent stand from the BJP on all critical issues.

Kumar has spoken against the proposed population control legislation, anti-conversion law, National Register of Citizens (NRC), National Population Register (NPR), national caste census besides the demand for special category status to Bihar, an issue that he uses to switch sides.

He even denied Rajya Sabha nomination to one of his trusted aide and union minister, RCP Singh, due to his perceived closeness to the BJP leadership. It was indeed a strong message to the BJP.

In that context, it is important to see if Kumar does it again or sticks to the NDA given that he has very limited options now, especially with the diminishing influence of his JD(U) in Bihar politics and the continuous rise of the BJP.

On Thursday, JD(U) minister Sharavan Kumar added a new twist to the presidential elections. He described Kumar as the most suitable candidate for the top post.

There have been speculation about Kumar's future in the recent past too. He had earlier rejected outright the talk of him quitting as the chief minister and joining the union cabinet.

That said, the questions on everyone's mind are would Shravan Kumar have said so without the chief minister's approval and will the chief minister come out again and contradict his colleague.