New Delhi: After its humiliating defeat in the Delhi Assembly poll, the BJP leadership will be forced to tweak its poll strategy in Bihar and West Bengal where the next elections are scheduled. While Bihar will go to polls before the end of the year, West Bengal will do so next year. Both states have a significant number of Muslim voters. The BJP’s plank in favour of the CAA and NRC is perceived to be “anti-Muslim” and drew protests across the country.
BJP ally, JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has declared that NRC will not be implemented, though his party supported the CAA in Parliament. However, after the Delhi poll results, the BJP’s bargaining power seems to have decreased. The BJP had declared Mr Kumar as the NDA’s face only after realising that going solo may prove detrimental.
Though state politics is abuzz with rumours on whether or not Nitish will ditch the BJP, the saffron party’s poll managers are confident that he will “not repeat the mistake” as it would only “tarnish his own image and credibility.”
