THE BATTLE OF ALLIANCES

On September 10, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi digitally launched the Rs 20,050 crore Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, a central government scheme to boost production and exports in the fisheries sector, he began his address in Bhojpuri—“Rauaa sabe ke pranam ba (Pranam to all of you)”. Minutes into his address, Modi picked “Nitish babu” for special praise, lauding, among other achievements, the Bihar chief minister’s success in bringing piped water to nearly 70 per cent of homes in the state. On September 13, while inaugurating three petroleum projects in Bihar, Modi endorsed Nitish again and said that his 15-year rule had shown how development could be fasttracked by adopting the right governance model.

These were official programmes, but Modi’s efforts to connect with poll-bound Bihar and hardsell old ally Nitish were more than obvious. Five years ago, the Bihar assembly election scene was altogether different. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had then run a determined campaign, led by the prime minister himself, against the grand alliance of Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) or