With Nitish Kumar at core, anti-Modi politics to the fore

The Bihar mandate has sent out a strong message to the BJP at national level; it also reflects on PM Modi as the NDA had gone into the Bihar elections projecting him and undermining the importance of projecting a CM face in Bihar. A BJP that was too dependent on the PM, may now be forced to rework its strategy for the UP assembly elections.

This verdict also diminished the importance of the NDA alliance partners, LJP, RLSP and HAM whose leaders failed to convert their social base vote to the NDA’s kitty. In contrast, the Grand Alliance partner, Congress gained in the company of the RJD and the JD (U) – it has crossed the double digit mark after a decade.

Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, who otherwise succeeded in upsetting Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary from Imamganj, has been able to emerge as leader of fellow Mushahars but he does not stand to gain much from challenging Nitish whose alliance with Lalu proved unassailable. A few questions now emerge: will Nitish Kumar enjoy a smooth sailing tenure as CM with the Lalu camp as laurels are even between Nitish and Bihar? Will the Centre still give Bihar Rs 1.25 lakh cr special package promised by PM Modi? Bihar looks set for a battle with the NDA on Centre- state relations.

Another question: Will other regional leaders now rally behind Nitish for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections? NDA alliance partners like Manjhi, Paswan and Kushwaha would have to redo their strategies and. Meanwhile the BJP in Bihar will return to its job of opposing Nitish and finding fault everything he and Lalu do.