Chief Minister Nitish Kumar clout in the central Bihar constituency has never been in question earlier. It has not elected any leader against his wishes in the past 18 years. This time things look different though. The common voters are openly accusing him of being discriminatory in the launch of development works and giving more attention to non-important issues than focusing on development of the region.
Nitish Kumar has a tough task at hand on home turf Nalanda. On test, in the constituency, is not only his personal popularity, but also his credibility as chief minister. If the protests at his rallies and the lack of enthusiasm among party workers are any indicator, he could be in for a shocker in the parliamentary polls. Nalanda goes to polls on 17 April.
But in the last few months, the general mood has turned against both Nitish and the sitting parliamentarian.This reflected in the vociferous protests at Nitish’s rallies at Ashthawan ,when the angry villagers pelted stones at him, missing him narrowly. The crowd was angry over the lack of roads in their villages despite repeated requests to the MP.
Shankar Prasad of Nalanda summarised this by saying,"Nobody wants to serve us. They appear during polls with folded hands and vanish soon after winning elections. Enough is enough," .
That the battle is tough ahead has been admitted by Nitish more than once. The chief minister has repeatedly gone on telling the masses at his election rallies that he will not compromise with principle even if his party does not win a single seat in the elections.
Nitish Kumar was furious while accepting the writing on wall, when he asked,"Will the world come to a standstill if my party loses elections?" But it was surprising that the talk of defeat on the part of Nitish even when five phases of polling are still left in Bihar .
INDIA HONEST feels that the gamble Nitish Kumar played by quitting NDA has completely boom ranged for basically two reasons :
a ) his plan to polarise minority voters has failed , because the votes are not going with JD(U), as the Muslims feel RJD and Congress combination has better viability ;
b) second Nitish Kumar had a better recognition as a reformer cum development maker as a NDA chief minister, but once the Modi wave has emerged and his government becoming unstable with weak majority in assembly, BJP has managed to take away his pro development face .
IH feels , even if this may not be the end of road for JD(U), but it may be confidently said, the road upwards is blocked completely, yes journey down the hill will be fast, may be even a complete wipe out .