Neerja Chowdhury / ET
Bihar 2015 is about Nitish Kumar just as India 2014 was about Narendra Modi, his support cutting across communities, without which it would not have been possible for the Mahagathbandhan to win an impressive 179 seats. There was an undercurrent of sympathy visible for the Bihar CM. It was as if people wanted to make up for the defeat they had inflicted on him in 2014, given the immense goodwill they had for the CM, as they spoke of how he had built new roads, provided more bijli, given cycles to their girls to go to school and college, in what is a bottom-up model of development.
The success lay in the way the alliance converted arithmetic into chemistry. The credit for this goes to Lalu Prasad Yadav. Together, the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress had 45% of the vote in 2014. This is almost the voteshare they have polled in 2015. Not only did the former rivals Nitish and Lalu sew up the grand alliance, but the RJD chief agreed to Nitish being the chief ministerial candidate, with the distribution of tickets taking place amicably.
Most importantly, the allies were able to transfer their votebase to each other, and move in step — which they will have to continue to do in the coming days if they are to be a credible alternative. The Congress, which increased its seats six-fold, may be able to provide a cushion to the alliance. more
Bihar 2015 is about Nitish Kumar just as India 2014 was about Narendra Modi, his support cutting across communities, without which it would not have been possible for the Mahagathbandhan to win an impressive 179 seats. There was an undercurrent of sympathy visible for the Bihar CM. It was as if people wanted to make up for the defeat they had inflicted on him in 2014, given the immense goodwill they had for the CM, as they spoke of how he had built new roads, provided more bijli, given cycles to their girls to go to school and college, in what is a bottom-up model of development.
The success lay in the way the alliance converted arithmetic into chemistry. The credit for this goes to Lalu Prasad Yadav. Together, the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress had 45% of the vote in 2014. This is almost the voteshare they have polled in 2015. Not only did the former rivals Nitish and Lalu sew up the grand alliance, but the RJD chief agreed to Nitish being the chief ministerial candidate, with the distribution of tickets taking place amicably.
Most importantly, the allies were able to transfer their votebase to each other, and move in step — which they will have to continue to do in the coming days if they are to be a credible alternative. The Congress, which increased its seats six-fold, may be able to provide a cushion to the alliance. more
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