Confident NDA already plans for ‘post-result’ Bihar

As campaigning for the first phase of the Bihar Assembly election concluded on Tuesday, discussions within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have already begun shifting from poll campaign to post-poll leadership possibilities.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

While the alliance is contesting under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, senior figures within the JD(U), BJP, LJP (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and the Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal (RLJD) privately acknowledge that the state will see a new Chief Minister once the government is formed after the results are declared on 14 November.

Within the BJP, there is growing expectation that if the NDA secures a decisive majority, the party will stake claim to the Chief Minister's post and Kumar will happily recede to the background.

Names being discussed include both Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, Health Minister Mangal Pandey, and former state BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal.