DOWN TO THE WIRE

PM MODI AND THE BJP PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS AS TEJASHWI AND A RESURGENT RJD THREATEN A FIGHTBACK

- Amitabh Srivastava

In all the election rallies Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed in Bihar, he has tried to hammer home three points—that an alliance government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) is the state’s best bet for vikaas (development); that Nitish Kumar is the chief ministerial face of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA); and that the opposition spearhead and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Tejashwi Yadav is a dynast—“the yuvraj of jungle raj” as the prime minister calls him—who must be cast aside by the electorate.

Of late, though, PM Modi and Nitish have stepped up the attacks, a tacit acknowledgment that Lalu Prasad’s son has come into his own and is the prime challenger to the throne in Bihar. There are perhaps some jitters as preliminary reports from the ground have not been very encouraging for the NDA on the 71 constituencies that went to the polls in the first phase on October 28. Analysts now feel the constant emphasis on the RJD’s ‘15 years of misrule’ is sending out the impression that the NDA is feeling the heat.