By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, January 28: Pollster Prashant Kishor recently mocked at the people of Bihar, saying they have such a fate that irrespective of whoever they vote the chief minister of the state will only be Nitish Kumar. He was once more vindicated on Sunday as Nitish Kumar will be taking path as the chief minister in the evening to form a government with the support of the BJP.
The national ambition of the Bihar chief minister was seen ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He had quit the National Democratic Alliance after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) picked Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate. His announcement to quit the NDA was dramatic as the decision was made public on a day he was to host the BJP leaders for a dinner in Patna.
But the Bihar chief minister got a taste of a wrong decision in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The Janata Dal (United) won just two Lok Sabha seats. The BJP won 22 Lok Sabha seats. Even a small party such as the Lok Jan Shakti Party won seven Lok Sabha seats. Ram Vilas Paswan proved to be better than Nitish Kumar in reading the changing political weather in Bihar.
The 2014 Lok Sabha outcome was a shock for the Bihar chief minister. He realized that the people in Bihar were voting differently in the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections. Kumar returned to the NDA ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On this occasion, he was rewarded for making a politically correct decision. The JD (U) won a total of 16 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. He was able to arm-twist the BJP to contest on a lesser number of seats. The BJP won a total of 17 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Kumar was able to force the BJP to accept that the JD (U) not contest on less than 16 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. He forced the BJP to give space to the smaller allies from the party’s quota.
Kumar once more showed on Sunday that he can make the BJP dance to his tune as he is set to become the chief minister again despite being the JD (U) being the third largest party in the Bihar Assembly. The BJP’s dream to have own chief minister in Bihar may remain distant despite the party having 78 MLAs in the state Assembly.
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