Bihar: BJP led NDA hobbled by trust deficit

Is BJP led NDA losing ground in Bihar with a weak Nitish Kumar on their side? Whereas on the other hand, Congress is strengthening itself with an alliance with RJD

Photo Courtesy: Twitter
Photo Courtesy: Twitter
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Soroor Ahmed

Even as the opposition parties, especially are coming under increasing flak for their failure to stitch a coherent alliance against the BJP, in Bihar it is the NDA too which appears to be wobbling.

Not too long ago, December to be precise, BJP workers in the state were up in arms against chief minister Nitish Kumar’s right hand man and JD(U) vice president Prashant Kishor. Upset at Kishor’s ‘interference’ in the Patna University Students’ Union election, which RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad lost, BJP supporters were offering ‘dharna’ demanding action against Kishor.

The communication and election strategist Kishor, in turn, has lost no opportunity to boast that even before the election, JD(U) has succeeded in forcing the BJP to settle on just 17 Lok Sabha seats as against the 22 it had won and 31 it had contested in 2014.

Another NDA constituent in the state, Lok Janshakti Party, is also in disarray. Three of its six Members of Parliament from the state seem to be in a rebellious mood. The other three MPs happen to be the party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, his brother and his son. One of the LJP MPs, Veena Devi, publicly announced that she would not contest the poll after she was denied permission to share the dias with PM Modi when the latter visited Begusarai on February 17.

The rank and file of the Janata Dal United and Lok Janshakti Party also seem lukewarm to the prospect of BJP returning to power at the Centre. This is a significant departure from the 2014 Lok Sabha poll when there was a wave of support for Narendra Modi among the NDA constituents.

Janata Dal United and LJP leaders and workers are keen to ensure victory of their party candidates but appear reluctant to campaign for BJP candidates. Besides a few hard-core saffron brigade supporters there is no perceptible eagerness to see Narendra Modi elected as the Prime Minister again.

Indeed, in private conversations leaders of both the parties do not rule out post-poll alliance with the opposition. JD(U) leaders are apprehensive that if Narendra Modi returns for the second term, he would lose little time to cut Nitish Kumar to size.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s announcement at the Gandhi Maidan that the face of the opposition in Bihar would be Tejashwi Yadav has also contributed to clearing the air

Although Janata Dal United is the oldest secular partner of the BJP, it had contested the last Lok Sabha election separately. It had fielded candidates in 38 seats leaving two for the CPI. The Janata Dal United however won only two of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and polled around 16% of the votes. The percentage was much less than what was polled by Lalu Prasad’s RJD, which too fared poorly and won just four seats.

Another factor which may queer the pitch for the NDA is that Nitish Kumar is today politically weaker than he was in 2014. INC and the RJD, which contested together in 2014, are likely to contest together again. There seems to be much less confusion in their ranks and it is clear that RJD is going to be the senior partner. Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s announcement at the Gandhi Maidan that the face of the opposition in Bihar would be Tejashwi Yadav has also contributed to clearing the air.

Trust deficit within the NDA, double anti-incumbency and absence so far of a Modi wave are loaded against the NDA in Bihar. It would be hoping that the air strike in POK would revive at least part of the magic.

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