With Lalu no longer in contention for the chief minister’s post – given his conviction in a corruption case and disqualification from contesting any election – the only cause of friction could be distribution of seats. This, too, has been settled with the allocation of seats each constituents will contest in the coming election to the state assembly. Distribution of seats is the most difficult exercise in any alliance and so it was in Bihar. But the complex situation was tide over after months of hard negotiations. Accordingly, Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal will contest 100 seats each and leave 40 for the Congress. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who announced formation of the Grand Alliance, said Nationalist Congress party has been offered three seats, which the NCP has rejected. No seat has been set aside for the Samajwadi Party whose President Mulayam Singh Yadav had brokered peace between Nitish and Lalu Prasad to pave the way for formation of the alliance to take on the BJP.

There is no overstating the importance of the Bihar election for Modi and the NDA government. Failure to win this election would bring into question BJP’s strategy of fielding Modi as its star campaigner everywhere. If BJP gets blocked in Bihar, the odds against it in non-Hindi speaking states such as Bengal and Tamil Nadu look insuperable and it will be fair to say the pro-BJP wave which began with its Lok Sabha victory last year has already peaked across the country.

The bugle for the battle of ballot in Bihar has been sounded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently at ‘parivartan’ rally in Gaya. He said every state has an IAS or IPS officer from Bihar. But regrettably over 80 lakh students are forced to share just 25,000 engineering seats in Bihar. Squarely blaming the 25-year-rule of the RJD and JD(U) for this shabby state of affairs, PM promised that a BJP sarkar would rid the state or its Bimaru tag. The million dollar question is whether his promises still enjoy the credibility they did last year. The promising aspect of Modi Gaya rally was that it sidestepped caste and religious questions and focused on development.

Nitish Kumar has rebutted the Modi attack as vehemently as it was made: Why doesn’t Modi know that Bihar has already shed Bimaru tag? Far from still lagging the national growth rate, the state habitually outpaces it these days. Taking a leaf out of Modi’s own book, Nitish tried to turn the whole Modi pitch into an assault on Bihari pride.

The Prime Minister has announced a Rs. 1.25 lakh crore package for the poll-bound state, declaring that this, together with Rs. 40,000 crore worth of ongoing projects, would “change the face of Bihar”. Given the BJP’s desperation to win the state, a big bang announcement was on the cards. The question is the PM’s largesse is as dramatic as it should. First, no timeline line has been announced for delivery of the package. Second, much of what has been promised may already be part of the plan outlays.

There is already a debate on the DNA issue. It all began with PM felt there was something wrong with the DNA of Nitish Kumar. It didn’t match the DNA of democracy. Modi had said this at a political rally, and wondered if that was the reason why Bihar remains a Bimaru state. Nitish then connected the dots and described Modi’s speech as an assault on Bihari pride. He started a “shabd wapsi campaign to force PM to retract his comment, which will see 50 lakh people mail bits to their skin, hair and nail for DNA testing. Nitish sees potential in Modi’s DNA remark to be turned into a rallying point and boost his claim to represent Bihari “asmita”. In recent years Nitish has been attempting to step out of the caste-centric atmosphere that has shaped electoral politics in Bihar and project a pattern centered on governance and regionalism.

Nitish is handicapped by the limited social base of his party; he has sought to draw upon his governance record and expand his mass appeal. He also invokes a picture of Bihar as a victim of the Centre’s economic policies to buttress his credentials as a leader, concerned about the regional development and cultural identity. The DNA campaign is meant to invest some emotion in this politics of regional pride. (IPA Service)