India, Feb. 3 -- We're all familiar with deserters and turncoats. They're not as uncommon as one would hope. But would you agree that Nitish Kumar simply takes the cake? Although many were anticipating it, I was, quite frankly, stunned by his behaviour. I did not believe a self-respecting person - even a politician - could stoop so low to place his own political survival way ahead of any principles and ideology he might espouse.

Since 2013, this is the fifth time Kumar has abruptly changed political allies in order to take forward his own political career. However, my colleague Ashok Upadhyay says if you go back to his break with Lalu Yadav and the Janata Dal to form the Samata Party in 1994, it's the sixth occasion.

So you could ask wh...