NDA government has once again returned to Bihar.
Nitish Kumar has left the Grand Alliance and joined BJP, due to which after resigning on Sunday morning, he took oath as the Chief Minister for the ninth time in the evening.
Nitish once again claims that now he will not go anywhere and will remain with BJP. However, only the future will tell how true his claim will prove to be.
In fact, in the last decade, Nitish sometimes stayed with RJD and sometimes suddenly, giving some reason, again joined the BJP-led NDA.
In such a situation, when again there were speculations about Nitish forming a government with BJP, voices of displeasure were heard from within the BJP itself. Starting from Union Minister Giriraj Singh and all the party leaders, they openly opposed Nitish, but due to the decision of the high command, finally an alliance of JDU and BJP was formed in Bihar.
Nitish is as much a necessity for the BJP as he is a compulsion for the BJP.
According to political experts, this time the alliance of BJP and JDU has been made keeping in mind the needs of the Lok Sabha elections to be held after a few months, rather than the assembly elections to be held next year.
Now only three months are left for the general elections and BJP’s target is to win more than 400 seats. BJP remains very strong in all the states of North India, but due to JDU joining the grand alliance in Bihar, tension had arisen for BJP.
In the last Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, JDU and BJP had jointly contested the elections, in which NDA had won 39 out of total 40 seats.
In this, BJP got 17 seats, Nitish Kumar’s JDU got 16 seats, LJP got 6 seats. Even RJD’s account could not be opened, while one seat went to Congress. This time BJP wanted to repeat a similar performance in Bihar, where JDU’s entry into the grand alliance was creating hurdles.
Now with JDU coming back to NDA, the path of Lok Sabha elections has become easier for BJP.
BJP leadership has been believing that despite the grand alliance of Nitish-Lalu, Congress and Left (now Nitish has become a part of NDA), BJP would have won half of the 40 seats in Bihar on the basis of the popularity of Prime Minister Modi, but in the past Last time NDA had won 39 out of 40 seats and this time it aims for a clean sweep. PM Modi wants his biggest victory so far for his third term.
The party had won 303 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections and this time it wants to cross this figure at any cost. The equations of Bihar and Maharashtra could have become a hindrance in this path. For this reason, BJP took Nitish along despite not having confidence in him.
Nitish Kumar’s alliance with BJP will not only strengthen the NDA but will also deal a big blow to the opposition alliance India Alliance.
After joining the Grand Alliance, it was Nitish who met the leaders of various opposition parties and tried to bring everyone under one roof. It was this effort of Nitish that last year more than 25 parties together formed the India Alliance.
In such a situation, Nitish’s withdrawal from the India alliance at the national level and from the grand alliance in Bihar will create a stir in the opposition camp and BJP will get psychological benefit from it in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. BJP will be successful in giving the message among the voters that how will the alliance which could not remain united before the elections, be able to run the government if it wins the elections.
Speaking to our colleague ‘Hindustan Times’, Professor (retired) and political analyst NK Chaudhary, former head of the Department of Economics, Patna University, said, “BJP is back in the game in Bihar.
This brightens the party’s chances of increasing its seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and most importantly, it is also a big blow to the India Alliance formed at the national level.
At the center of all this is the caste survey which put the number of Extremely Backward Castes (EBC) at 36.01% and OBC at 27.12%. EBC has been Nitish’s traditional vote bank since 2005.
This vote bank will benefit BJP.” At the same time, DM Diwakar, former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, says that despite the enthusiasm for Ram Temple, the NDA camp was not confident without Nitish Kumar. This will help BJP in getting the support of EBC.