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‘No confusion, great combination’: Posters of Modi, Nitish surface in Patna
These posters have replaced overnight buntings of the Rashtriya Janata Dal scion Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the CM face of Mahagathbandhan that also consists of the Congress and the Left parties
Posters say it all. Nitish Kumar (69) is set to return as Bihar’s chief minister for the seventh time. That’s the writing on the wall.
Hours after the declaration of the results of the Bihar assembly elections in the early hours on Wednesday, posters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (United), with pictures of their leaders, have surfaced across Patna.
These posters have replaced overnight buntings of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) scion Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, the CM face of Grand Alliance (GA) or the Mahagathbandhan (MGB) that also consisted the Congress and the Left parties, on the occasion of his 31st birthday that was celebrated on Monday (November 9).
Also Read: Full coverage of Bihar assembly election 2020
The posters were a pointer towards the political wind blowing in Bihar after the exit polls last Saturday (November 7) that gave the GA a distinct edge.
The pollsters were made to eat humble pie, when the results were announced. The National Democratic Alliance, comprising the JD (U), the BJP, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahani’s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), won a wafer-thin majority of 125 – three more than the halfway mark of 122 in the 243-member Bihar assembly – leaving the GA at 110 seats as the latter alleged electoral malpractices.
A few posters of the JD (U), prominently displaying the pictures of CM Kumar, have also come up in front of the BJP’s office on Beerchand Patel Marg in Patna.
One such poster seeks to dispel any ambiguity about the fate of the NDA, after the BJP, for the first time since 2005, had won more seats (74), as compared to its senior ally, Kumar’s JD (U) (43).
“No confusion, great combination,” the poster stated allaying any misgivings of a likely chink in the NDA armour. “Bihar ki dhadkan (heartbeat of Bihar),” stated a message beneath the caricature of Kumar.
Another message beneath Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph stated, “Desh ki dhadkan (heartbeat of India),” spelling out the leaders of Bihar and the country, respectively.
“Double engine ki sarkaar ne phir se racha itihaas, (double engine government scripts history once again),” the poster signed off.
Another poster in front of the BJP office has Kumar’s photograph with a telling message, “Welcome People’s CM of Bihar – Nitish Kumar”.
“Bihar me ka ba. Phir se Nitish Kumar ba, bujhlau babua (What’s in Bihar? It is Nitish Kumar again, understood my dear),” stated another JD (U) poster in front of the BJP office in an allusion to actor Manoj Bajpayee’s viral Bhojpuri rap Bambai main ka ba.
Barely 500 metres away at the JD (U) office, a poster with Kumar’s cut-out emphatically stated, “Janta ne phir chuna 24 karat gold. Welcome CM Ntish Kumar (People have again selected 24K gold).”
“Tarakki dikhti hai, (development shows),” stated another poster.
“Nitish sabke hain (Nitish belongs to all)”, accompanying a beaming Kumar’s photograph, gave a sneak peek into joyous celebrations of a win that looked distant, if the pollsters’ predictions came good.
Kumar may be all smiles in these posters, but his worries are far over, especially as the BJP may assume to play the role of a “big brother” in the coalition on the back of a superior numerical strength.
The BJP, which has been largely playing a second fiddle to the JD (U), has shown a marked improvement and has won 74 seats, as compared to 53 in 2015, when the outgoing CM had done a volte-face and joined the RJD-led GA.
The JD (U), smarting under Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan’s (37) anti-Kumar poll pitch, slipped to 43 from 71 in 2015.
Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, a BJP lawmaker from Bihar, also queered Kumar’s pitch. He told a TV news channel that “Kumar is a good batsman and can bat on any pitch at any position. Let the NDA leaders decide that (whether he goes to Delhi).”
However, the outgoing Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP was quick to distance the party from Choubey’s comments and dubbed them as the latter’s personal opinion.
He told another TV news channel that the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda, had indicated before the assembly elections that Kumar would be the next CM and the public have faith and belief in the PM’s words.
Ashok Chaudhary, the working president of JD (U), dismissed Kumar’s prospects of moving to Delhi and reaffirmed that he would remain the Bihar CM while speaking to a TV news channel.
