The Congress stridency has indeed taken Laloo and Paswan by surprise. First, the RJD chief was denied an audience with Sonia Gandhi even as his estranged brother-in-law, Sadhu Yadav, not only managed to meet the Congress president but also got the party’s nomination for the West Champaran seat.
In Bihar, it is now virtually a Congress vs Laloo-Paswan battle. The Congress, regardless of the fact that some of its nominees are new entrants, deserters from other parties or those who had faded out of public memory, is in the fray with unmistakable determination. Its leaders say that even if it adds one more seat to the three it won in 2004, it will be a sign of regeneration. The party may even decide to go it alone in the 2010 assembly polls. But while the party might improve on its 4.6 per cent voteshare in the state, it will be at the cost of its UPA allies, Laloo and Paswan. The combine has launched joint electioneering with apparent anxiety over the Congress, and it remains to be seen if the RJD can come even close to the 22 seats it won last time.
So will it be advantage NDA then? There have been audible rumblings in both JD(U) and the BJP over selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls and there have been resignations in both parties over the issue. But Nitish hopes to do well and even improve on 2004 when the party won six seats and the BJP secured five. Many in the NDA think the outcome in Bihar could swing things the combine’s way. But the big question is, will Nitish stay in the NDA in the post-poll scenario?
