Not Sushil Modi; Shanawaz suggests a new name for NDA CM candidate

On Day 1 of the five-phase Bihar polls, the NDA, thanks to campaigner Shanawaz Hussain has a new potential chief ministerial candidate in its kitty. Hussain said that veteran party lawmaker Dr Prem Kumar will be made CM if the NDA came into power in the state.

After having kept mum about its CM candidate, this comes as a surprise given the NDA's usual formula.

"I request you to vote in large numbers and return your legislator Prem Kumar, who will be the chief ministerial candidate for the state. He will be the chief minister of the state if the NDA comes to power," NDTV quotes Hussain, former Union minister of the party, as saying.

So far, the party has been campaigning on the sheer weight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.

Interestingly, Dr Kumar, who is a six-time legislator from Gaya, has already been recognised as the BJP's face for the Economically Backward Classes (ECBs) - a big portion of the Bihar cake.

This raises the question as to why the party is making this calculated move. Pre-poll projections suggest that Nitish Kumar's popularity in the state may still spell trouble for the BJP. Nitish is the champion for the masses, and for a state with a high ECB population, who better to take him on than Dr Kumar?

The plot thickens.