Paani mein machhli,nau nau kutiya. This is how Leader of the Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiquei describes the talk of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as prime ministerial candidate,using a term that loosely translates into counting chickens before they are hatched. However,with Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP himself putting a stamp of approval on Nitishs candidature,the delight in the chief ministers camp over his growing profile is more than apparent. A JD(U) leader talks about the country having a government of bureaucrats should Nitish become PM. Another leader comments that several of them can fancy their chances of becoming governors. Several party leaders tell you that Nitish is weighing heavily on the minds of top leaders of ally BJP,including its national president Nitin Gadkari. The JD(U)s best hope is a hung Parliament post the 2014 elections,giving Nitish an outside chance to get the top slot. The contention is simple: If H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral could become PM,Nitish has a much wider acceptability both within and outside the NDA. And therein lies the clincher. Despite the JD(U) alliance with the BJP,Nitish has maintained his secular image ensuring that the BJP kept Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi out of Bihar went a long way towards that. A senior JD(U) leader says the ongoing heated Parliament session saw a private conversation where leaders talked of the Congress and the BJP doing equally badly in the general polls and Nitish being projected as PM by the Congress after cobbling together support of small parties opposed to the BJPs ideology. According to him,the prospect of empowerment of a backward state and fillip to the aura of an average Bihari were alluring,though Nitish could opt out keeping in mind stability of the political fabric and cohesiveness of the government. However,Nitish himself seems to have decided that for now,as the Congress struggles to get out of the corruption mire,his best chances lie with the NDA. With the PMship being built as a battle between him and Narendra Modi by some,Nitish has been playing safe. Any request for an interview with him now gets this reply: Phir mudli bel tar (once bitten,twice shy). santosh.singh@expressindia.com
