Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pledged to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday that he would “never again” abandon the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), admitting to having done so “twice by mistake.”

The assurance came during a joint event in Patna, where the two leaders inaugurated several central and state projects, just months ahead of the state assembly elections.

Shah, who arrived in Bihar late Saturday for a two-day visit, had rallied BJP workers the previous night, reportedly declaring that their victory would “resonate far and wide.” Known as the BJP’s master strategist, he is expected to cap his trip with a meeting at Kumar’s residence later today, joined by other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners.

The Patna function saw a warm exchange between Shah and Kumar, with the latter buoyed by a packed auditorium. “This place is filled beyond capacity,” Kumar remarked, undeterred by the crowd’s “Jai Shri Ram” chants despite his self-professed secular stance.

Kumar took a swipe at the pre-2005 RJD-Congress rule, saying, “They took Muslim votes but couldn’t stop communal clashes. Healthcare and education were nonexistent. We took charge in November 2005, and things improved.”

His alliance with the BJP dates back to the mid-1990s, but it’s been a rollercoaster—breaking off in 2014, reuniting in 2017, splitting again in 2022 with a vow to oust the BJP nationally via the INDIA bloc, only to return to the NDA fold before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Blaming past ruptures on “some people in my own party,” Kumar was firm: “I made the mistake twice, but it’s never again.” The declaration aligns with Shah’s visit, seen as a bid to solidify the NDA’s grip on Bihar, where the JD(U)-BJP combine has governed since 2005, barring Kumar’s flip-flops.

With elections looming, his words signal a commitment to stability—and a message to both allies and rivals that this time, he’s sticking around.