NDA all the way

THE biggest electoral battle of the year in India has turned out to be an apology for a contest. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has routed the Opposition’s Mahagathbandhan in Bihar — a thumping win similar to the BJP-led Mahayuti’s ruthless decimation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra last year. The BJP has emerged as the single largest party, consolidating its position in a state where it is yet to have its own chief minister. The JD(U), led by Bihar’s longest-serving CM Nitish Kumar, has defied all odds to finish a close second. Nitish’s detractors, who were in a hurry to write his epitaph, have been forced to eat crow. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal — the party that had won the highest number of seats in the 2020 Assembly elections — has ended up a distant third.

The ridiculously one-sided outcome means that the BJP and the JD(U) need to stick together to stay in power. Nitish, who has a knack for switching loyalties, now can’t afford to continue with his ‘Paltu Ram’ ways. But he can draw solace from the fact that the BJP, which doesn’t have a majority in the Lok Sabha, is dependent on the JD(U) to keep the NDA government intact at the Centre. Any attempt by the saffron party to dislodge CM Nitish might complicate things for the ruling alliance, even as Chirag Paswan won’t shy away from exploiting chinks in the NDA armour. However, the BJP may not be able to resist for too long the temptation to ease Nitish out, like it did to Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra.

The NDA’s triumph has left the Mahagathbandhan in tatters and dashed Prashant Kishor’s hopes of a new dawn. For the battered INDIA bloc, it will be a huge challenge to regroup ahead of next year’s Assembly elections in Opposition-ruled West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu — three states where the BJP will leave no stone unturned to wrest power.