NITISH KEEPS BJP ON TENTERHOOKS

Due to continued ambivalence of  Nitish Kumar, the future of NDA appears gloomy in Bihar. Earlier, he had targeted Narendra Modi only to appease the minority electorates. When the BJP, strongly stuck to its stand of choosing any prime ministerial candidate as and when deemed fit because it was its own prerogative, Nitish thought it better to soft pedal the matter. Not wisely but cleverly he is playing a double game by pitting the Congress and the BJP against each other. More and more this trick is getting exposed, the political equations in the state are getting more and more complicated.

Nitish very well knows that he is leading a coalition Govt. which will instantly collapse the moment BJP decided to withdraw its support. In that situation, neither the Congress nor the RJD would pick up his chestnut out of the fire. In place of the BJP, he will have to kowtow to several other minor groups. In this scenario, he is not ready to push the BLP against the wall. He stretches the issues only to the extent that when it started going out of control, he can retract his steps. By organizing a big rally first at Patna and then at New Delhi, he wanted to give a message not only to the opposition political parties, but also to the alliance partner(BJP) that the JDU was the real force to reckon with. He was wrong in the assessment that the size of a rally, which normally has a commandeered crowd, is the indication of the mass base of a party. He has just seen that with only four MPs, the RJD could organize a still bigger rally in Patna. So he should not commit the folly of ignoring a tested partner.

The coming parliamentary election in Bihar is going to be an acute test of wits of the stakeholders. The Congress, RJD and JDU are going to concentrate on Muslim votes. There is no important Muslim leader behind whom these voters can rally. The BJP is not at all interested as it knows the attitude of these minority voters. So there will be a cut-throat competition involving the remaining three parties to grab Muslim votes. Nitish understands that despite the BJP as its alliance partner, he can attract Muslim votes only by accusing the BLP for its alleged communal policies. He wants these votes also because he would never like the revival of the Congress in his state. Only a couple of days back, Kirti Azad, BJP/MP from Darbahanga constituency was badly annoyed when in a locally held meeting, he was twice stopped from speaking by the Chief Minister. Such pin-pricks are bound to create mutual distrust which is not good for the coalition govt.

If the NDA decides to remain in power and win maximum number of parliamentary seats in the upcoming general election, both the alliance partners will have to shake off tricks which generate mistrust. Like in the past, they should sit together, finalise the election manifesto and boldly face the election. As per the indications available at present, this tested combination has no fear from any corner.