Amid friction, NDA to put up a united face ahead of Bihar polls
The BJP has asked its alliance partners and its own leaders that no statement should be made against Nitish Kumar and his government
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the election campaign of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar for Assembly elections later this year, the BJP leadership’s message is clear: the ruling alliance must project a united face.
Although the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA combine won 30 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 parliamentary elections, the challenges before the ruling alliance remain.
The biggest of this in Bihar was that some prominent leaders and union ministers of the BJP, Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) were often critical of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and made statements against the state government.
BJP’s fiat to allies
While Nitish Kumar has reiterated that he would not leave the NDA, the Bihar chief minister has not enjoyed cordial relations with Chirag Paswan, Manjhi, Upendra Kushwaha (Rashtriya Lok Morcha) and a section of BJP leaders who have often been critical of him.
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Before the start of the Assembly election campaign, the BJP has made it clear to all alliance partners and its own leaders that no statement should be made against the Bihar chief minister and his government.
“It has been decided that the Assembly elections will be contested under the leadership of Nitish Kumar who will be the face of the NDA in Bihar while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the leader of NDA nationally. Modi will lead the NDA campaign and project the work done by the state government under Nitish. The NDA is contesting the election based on the work done by the state government,” Neeraj Kumar, chief spokesperson of the Janata Dal (United) or JD-U, told The Federal.
A united NDA
Apart from some of the outspoken members of BJP and NDA who spoke out against Nitish Kumar, some BJP members want the post of chief minister to go to their party.
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Senior JDU and BJP leaders say during the 2020 Assembly elections, Union minister Chirag Paswan, chief of the Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas), was critical of Nitish Kumar. Similarly, some NDA leaders like Manjhi and Kushwaha have also been critical of the chief minister.
Forging real unity
JD-U’s Neeraj Kumar said the times had changed.
“There is nothing like the earlier times. The NDA is a very cohesive now. There is an attempt to forge unity at the polling booth level. It is mandatory that all polling booths must have representatives of all five NDA parties in Bihar,” he said.
“It has been decided that state or district presidents of all NDA partners must attend any meeting at the state or district level. This experiment of trying to create a united NDA has not been tried earlier,” he added.
Three-tier strategy
With the Bihar election expected in October-November 2025, the BJP-NDA leadership does not want to take any chances as they feel that there is a need to improve the ground-level coordination between the five alliance parties.
NDA’s united front
Apart from election preparedness, the NDA is working on a strategy to jointly hold public meetings, press conferences and conventions of booth level workers.
“Apart from election preparedness, it is important to inform the people about the work done by the state government. We are jointly organizing press conferences and holding meetings of polling booth workers. All five parties do not have similar strength in all the constituencies. So, it is important that the NDA partners help each other to counter the RJD,” said Kumar.
‘Keep Nitish happy’
Political analysts believe the BJP is dependent on the support of JDU at the national level and it does not want to annoy Nitish Kumar just before the Bihar elections.
“The Bihar elections are very crucial for the NDA and it wants to project that the NDA is united. The role of Nitish Kumar is also important as the BJP is dependent on JD-U support. The BJP leadership does not want to annoy Nitish Kumar or Chandrababu Naidu. It will keep them pleased at the national level and in states,” AK Verma, Director, Centre for the Study of Society and Politics in Kanpur, told The Federal.
