The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Friday welcomed the announcement of the Assembly poll dates for Bihar, the first to be held after the advent of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and exuded confidence that it would win.
Parties welcome Bihar poll schedule
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a press conference in Patna announced that his party, the Janata Dal (U) welcomed the Election Commission’s decision, while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary in charge of Bihar Bhupendra Yadav tweeted, “The Assembly polls in Bihar will reflect the results of the Lok Sabha elections and the NDA will win with a two-thirds majority in Bihar Assembly.”
The polls, the first in India under the shadow of COVID-19, will present many challenges to not only the Election Commission but also political parties that have to change the ways of campaigning to accommodate the socially distant style required. The BJP, however, says that this is one challenge that the party has been able to game early on, as far back as June. “We were the first party to start off with digital rallies in June, and we have prepared content and connectivity for outreach on various digital platforms to suit big, small and micro groups,” said a senior leader in the Bihar BJP.
SC refuses to entertain plea for deferment of Bihar Assembly polls
The political challenges will unfurl not just as the campaign gains traction but also the closer the BJP and its partner, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), come to finalising their seat sharing agreement. While the two parties fought together under a long decided formula when they were together in the 2005 and 2010 polls, Mr. Kumar’s exit from the NDA before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls meant that old agreements needed to renegotiated after his party’s return to the NDA fold in 2017.
“While during the 2019 polls, it was decided that the BJP and JD(U) will fight an equal number of Lok Sabha seats, for the Assembly, the JD(U) wants to retain its dominant role of the past. That is a bit hard to swallow for the BJP,” said a source in the Bihar BJP.
The Lok Janshakti Party, under the leadership of young Chirag Paswan, has also been demanding a larger share of seats from the NDA’s kitty, which the JD(U) says is up to BJP to spare from its share.
JD(U) general secretary K.C. Tyagi told The Hindu that while his party expects a seamless seat adjustment with the BJP, they have “no experience” of fighting polls with the LJP. “While we have fought alongside the BJP many times, we have no experience with the LJP,” he said, hinting quite strongly that appeasing the LJP will be the job of the BJP and not the JD(U).
The other challenge for the alliance is an undercurrent of anti-incumbency to the last 15 years of Nitish Kumar’s administration in Bihar, as well as the handling of the recent floods in the State, and the COVID-19 outbreak. The BJP feels that while the floods and COVID-19 are problems that have plagued many States this year, the antidote to this could be in the persona of Prime Minister Modi and the welfare handouts that took place during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Like-minded parties should stay together in Bihar: Congress
“Every Below Poverty Line (BPL) family in Bihar has received some assistance or the other under various welfare measures announced by the Central government. Modi ka bheja hua paisa (money sent by Modi) is something that the Opposition is not taking into account,” said a senior BJP Bihar leader.
The Opposition has been playing down the power of double engine growth saying it hasn’t given much to Bihar, but the forget that the State has only had “double engine government” — same alliance government at the Centre and State — since 2017.
“In 2005 and 2010, the United Progressive Alliance was in power, and when Modiji took over as PM in Delhi in 2014, Nitish Kumar was no longer with us. People will give us the benefit of doubt,” the Bihar BJP leader said.
