New Delhi: The rhetoric by BJP leaders, including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on quotas and minorities, was seen as a desperate attempt by the saffron leadership after getting feedback that it was not doing well and that the Nitish-Lalu alliance was way ahead.
While speculation is rife on whether the Bihar results will have any impact on Mr Shah remaining party president, senior leader and home minister Rajnath Singh recently said Mr Shah will continue irrespective of what the results were.
Already facing trouble in Maharashtra, where its Shiv Sena ally passes up no chance to attack it, the BJP leadership might find its allies more assertive now.
With the BJP providing it another opportunity in Bihar, the Shiv Sena, in an apparent dig at the PM, said the defeat “denotes the decline of a leader”, while hailing Mr Nitish Kumar as a “mahanayak” (superhero). Speculation is rife that things are not going too well between the BJP and Telugu Desam as well.
The BJP managed to forge a caste alliance, but its impact on the ground appeared to have been negligible. Surprisingly, even the upper castes favoured the Opposition alliance. Even BJP allies like Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP did badly.
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