THE BATTLE OF ALLIANCES

The NDA goes into the Bihar election as the clear favourite, buoyed by Nitish’s credibility and thanks to the disarray in an RJD-(mis)led opposition. But it needs to quickly iron out differences among its two main constituents over seat distribution

- Amitabh Srivastava

On September 10, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi digitally launched the Rs 20,050 crore Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, a central governm­ ent scheme to boost production and exports in the fisheries sector, he began his address in Bhojpuri—“Rauaa sabe ke pranam ba (Pranam to all of you)”. Minutes into his address, Modi picked “Nitish babu” for special praise, laud­ ing, among other achievements, the Bihar chief minister’s success in bring­ ing piped water to nearly 70 per cent of homes in the state. On September 13, while inaugurating three petroleum projects in Bihar, Modi endorsed Nitish again and said that his 15­year rule had shown how development could be fast­ tracked by adopting the right gover­ nance model.

These were official programmes, but Modi’s efforts to connect with poll­bound Bihar and hardsell old ally Nitish were more than obvious. Five years ago, the Bihar assembly election scene was altogether different. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had then run a determined campaign, led by the prime minister himself, against the grand alliance of Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) or JD(U), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress—and failed. The BJP had contested 157 of the total 243 assembly seats—drawing over 9.3 million votes, the highest among all parties in that election—but could win only 53. The other three constituents added just five seats to the NDA tally.