BJP victory in Bihar would be necessary but not sufficient

“Now tactical silence is his new weapon of choice”, Kumar said in a series of tweets ahead of Modi’s rallies in Bihar today.

Lalu Yadav who had spent the last decade nearly in Delhi as a junior partner of the ruling Congress party at the centre, is now campaigning with the ardour of the old backward leader.

Faced with such a charismatic leader and trying to ensure his victory in the state for the third straight time, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has deployed an army of young volunteers belonging to Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) who have come up with a few low-priced and what they believe are effective tools to counter the Modi phenomena.

“When they (the BJP) talk about pride and say that he split from the alliance because he wanted to become the Prime Minister, so I repeatedly say that I never wanted to become the Prime Minister neither there was any aspiration”.

“Not only the local leaders but also the national leaders, including Modi himself, have attempted to add communal colour to the Bihar elections”.

The Janata Dal-United’s (JD-U) comments came at the end of the third phase of polling on Wednesday. “No one can change or snatch reservation of Dalits and OBCs in the country”.

NDA’s recent problems on the campaign trail have been well-documented, making issues of eating beef and caste reservations. On other hand he has given about 1.25 lakh crore package to Bihar which is struggling for AP’s people mind.

Pitted against the BJP is the “maha ghatbandhan” or the grand alliance of socialist parties.

“The alliance of Nitish and Lalu is an alliance of the past”.

They are contesting from Mahua and Raghopur seats respectively in Vaishali district. More than 14 million people are eligible to vote across 7 districts to decide fate of 776 candidates, including 57 women.

The first phase of voting on October 12 saw polling in 49 assembly seats, followed by 32 constituencies on October 16. This anxiety is as much about what will happen inside the party if the NDA either loses the Bihar assembly polls or a near hung verdict is produced.

BJP needs to rescue Bihar, for despite the media attempts of painting Nitish Kumar as a development icon, one must remember that effectively Nitish would be a lame duck CM remote controlled by the likes of Lalu Prasad Yadav if the secular alliance manages to get past the 120 seat mark. The RSS does not want Modi to project himself purely as a development messiah at the cost of the larger Hindu consolidation project which they have unleashed.