Signals suggest multi-cornered contest in upcoming Bihar polls

Even as Bihar assembly elections are drawing nearer, the picture about its contest is still hazy.

- Arun Kumar

There are conflicting signals about the final shape of the possible contest. While a direct face-off between two biggest blocs -- NDA and INDIA -- is anybody's guess, experts feel that it could also turn out to be a multi-cornered fight.

Apart from the two main alliances, the third party, which is working hard to change the grammar of election with an eye on the future, is the Jan Suraaj Party of Prashant Kishor. It has so far decided to go solo and field candidates on all the 243 seats, but once its acceptance among electorate is visible and it finds suitable partners, it might also fight the polls in an alliance.

Another surprising element in the run up to the polls is the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) whose supremo Chirag Paswan, who also happens to be a Union minister and the party is an ally of NDA, is making contrasting overtures towards his own-supported state government headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

He has taken sharp potshots at the Nitish government for plummeting law and order situation in Bihar after a spate of murders. He went too far as to suggest that he was wondering why he was supporting a government so weak to tackle crimes.

He also seems to nurturing ambitions to go solo in polls and enhance his party's profile. His party had contested 2020 poll on its own that led to his split from the NDA in 2020.