The JD(U) may have set a deadline for the BJP to announce its Prime Ministerial candidate, but it also offered little cheer to the Congress that sees the Bihar-based party as a “potential ally”.
While Nitish did not speak much about the Congress, the political resolution adopted by the JD(U) was highly critical of the UPA Government.
“The political scenario in the country is very disappointing. The governance system is on the brink of collapse due to the weakness of the UPA Government. There is a constant decline in the credibility of the institutions and political values,” it said.
The resolution said, “Corruption is in news and unemployment and price rise have rendered people poorer and the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. The inequality between the developed and the backward States has increased.”
“...A tension has come in the federal structure of the country because the Centre has hurt the autonomy of the States by violating their rights in an unprecedented manner.”
The JD(U) also expressed confidence that people will “throw out” the UPA Government and said, “Time has come now that the NDA again makes a strategy so that it gets a majority in the next lok Sabha polls and the tenure of good governance (sushashan) comes again.”
Nitish remarks about the fate of a few PMs, who banked on the Congress, left nobody in doubt about the level of distrust he shares with the grand old party.
It was obvious that Nitish will certainly not wish to share the 10 years of anti-incumbency and unpopularity that the UPA Government faces in allying with the Congress in a pre-poll situation.
The Nitish Government is also in power in Bihar for seven years now and, party leaders admit, snapping ties with the BJP would be an ‘extreme step’ to consider. A section of the JD(U) fears possibility of an intense polarisation of upper caste votes in favour of the BJP, if Nitish breaks ranks with the NDA. They are sceptical about Congress’ potential to add upper caste votes to Nitish’s bouquet of MBC-Backward-Muslim votes.