At first NDA meeting under him as CM, Nitish Kumar accepted as face of coalition; stress on ‘communal harmony’

Though the immediate reason for calling a meeting of the NDA was reportedly the November 13 bypolls to four Assembly seats, a JD(U) source said: “The meeting was called to seek better NDA coordination because of Prashant Kishor slowly emerging as a political force, and also to drop a subtle message to the BJP to stick to the old NDA template of zero tolerance on crime, or any attempt to foment any communal discord.”

A JD(U) leader said: “The NDA meeting was necessary to set the record straight. Nitish alone is the NDA leader and there must be no ambiguity on our commitment to communal harmony.”

As per a BJP leader, it was an important meeting to “set the tone” ahead of the 2025 Assembly polls.

NDA watchers noted that, at the meeting, Giriraj Singh made no attempt to invoke “Hindu pride”, which was the theme of his yatra, and rather focused most of his address on “the all-round development in Bihar under the leadership of Nitish Kumar”.

Giriraj also ignored a jibe at him by senior JD(U) leader and Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh or Lalan Singh, who said: “Giriraj Singh might have his own USP, but the NDA must not make any compromise on communal harmony.”

Sources said the challenge posed by the RJD as well as the Jan Suraaj Party of Kishor was not directly discussed, but the fall in the NDA’s Lok Sabha performance, to 30 seats in Bihar this time against 39 out of 40 in 2019, was discussed.

The BJP, which won 17 out of the 17 seats it contested in 2019, won 12 seats in this year’s elections, with the JD(U) having a slightly better strike rate winning 12 out of the 16 it contested.

All allies agreed on the need for better coordination among them, down to the panchayat level. The district-level 20-point – or NDA “Bees Sutri” – committees will now hold monthly reviews of development works and public grievances, in place of the irregular meetings it holds currently.

The committee has 10 members each from the BJP and JD(U) and one each from the Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Upendra Kushwaha, LJP (R) of Chirag Paswan and HAM (S) of Jitan Ram Manjhi, apart from the minister in charge of that district.

NDA leaders were also asked to keep reminding people about the condition of Bihar before 2005, and how the state had changed under Nitish. BJP state president Dilip Jaiswal stressed after the meeting: “We are amply clear that the next Assembly elections would be fought under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.”

A senior BJP leader admitted that there was a clear signal to the party to be “cautious” about its line, in Nitish’s message regarding communal harmony.

An NDA leader who was at the meeting said that Nitish also talked about how the state had maintained amity, and went on to list his government’s schemes for Muslims. He talked about the fencing of cemeteries, but said temple lands had also been fenced.

Almost all NDA Lok Sabha MPs, MLAs and MLCs, all district presidents of the JD(U) and BJP, and 25 leaders each from the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, LJP(R) and HAM(S) attended the NDA meeting, held at CM House.