The soil Amit Shah has prepared on Nitish’s turf will see BJP’s lotus bloom in Bihar this year, predict punters. And such bright will be its radiance that it will fade away Nitish and his political ally Lalu. What began as a “nail biting contest” with the composite of Nitish-Lalu and Congress having a marginal edge, the BJP, as per punters, have significantly gained ground elbowing aside Nitish-Lalu’s grand alliance. All this in little over a fortnight.
Sample this: till one and a half month back the satta market’s forecast was that BJP was slightly lagging behind Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his alliance. The betting market, which is illegal, was offering one rupee 10 paisa on every rupee bet on BJP winning the Bihar Vidhan Sabha elections. It was said that BJP might collapse with a 100 seat count. Thought not a significant lead, the bookies were holding the grand alliance of Nitish-Lalu and Congress in good stead giving them the “edge”. Within days, NDA started galloping ahead leaving little to choose between NDA and its opponents.
Interestingly, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) started gaining significant ground immediately after it firmed up its Bihar action plan and made the seat sharing announcement. After much bargaining, the NDA, on September 15, announced its seat sharing with Jitan Ram Manjhi led Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti party (LJP) and the Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata party (RLSP). And Amit Shah’s team, bookies say, has not looked back since then.
