After Nitish Kumar’s departure and a loss of yet another ally of National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the BJP will find itself isolated in the State with all Opposition parties coming together under the leadership of Nitish against the BJP.
The BJP is now left with Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras with no MLA in the State Assembly. It is virtually BJP versus the rest in the new power arrangement in Bihar.
Currently, BJP holds 77, JD(U) 45, RJD 79, HAM(S) 4, Congress 19, CPIML 12, CPI 4, and AIMIM and Independent, one each seat in the Bihar Assembly.
The departure of Kumar when the Lok Sabha polls are only about 18 months away comes as a major challenge for the BJP in Bihar which sends 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha. The BJP-JD(U) alliance had swept the 2019 Lok Sabha poll in Bihar winning 39 of 40 seats.
The Bihar split also leaves the BJP minus one more major ally in the NDA and denting its credibility to carry along diverse ideological parties and run a consensus coalition at the Centre and the States. After the recent exit of Akali Dal (Punajb) , Rashtiya LokTantrik Party (Rajasthan) and Shiv Sena (Maharashtra), the JDU is the 20th ally which has moved out of the NDA. The BJP cannot shrug off the ‘thinning-down’ of the NDA which otherwise seeks to have a pan-Indian presence addressing diverse social-economic groups and factions.
The discomfort for the regional parties in alliance with the BJP had become palpable with the BJP’s coup in Maharashtra.