Nitish calls for a national alliance to defeat BJP. Is he bidding to be PM?

On their own?

Lalu Prasad's RJD, the third axis in Nitish's ruling coalition in Bihar, too responded cautiously. The party's national spokesman Manoj Jha told Catch that "it must not be forgotten" that the call for a wider front against RSS-BJP was first given by Lalu back on 16 May 2014, the day the BJP won power.

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Agreeing with Nitish on the need to contain the RSS, Jha said all parties should realise that the Hindutva outfit's rising influence "is detrimental to constitutional morality". In a veiled message to Nitish, Jha said that when Jayaprakash Narayan was working to stitch a similar grand alliance against the Congress in 1974-76, he wouldn't speak on the question of leadership, instead focusing on getting the alliance ready.

If Nitish's proposal is to take shape, it's essential that the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress get on board. Both are currently too per-occupied with the assembly election in West Bengal to contribute to the discussion. Catch reached out to an otherwise vocal CPI(M) leader but he wouldn't talk about anything other than the Bengal polls "at this juncture".

The party's chief Sitaram Yechury, too, is silent so far, as is Trinamool boss Mamata Banerjee and her party leaders.

Unsteady allies?

The other major parties that would be called upon to shore up the proposed alliance are the AIADMK and the BJP. The AIADMK, the third largest party in this Lok Sabha after the BJP and the Congress, is gearing up for a tough electoral battle in Tamil Nadu. Its response would be greatly influenced by the outcome of this election.

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The BJD, which has 20 MPs in the Lower House, may be the most amenable of the potential allies. Indeed, the party's leader in the Lok Sabha Bhartruhari Mahtab suggested as much when he told Catch Nitish should have followed up his statement by reaching out to all the parties he had in mind.

Mahtab further said though it was too early to comment on the proposal, Nitish should first clarify two things. One, does he have only the socialist parties in mind? Two, what is his position vis-a-vis the Congress at the Centre? He reminded Nitish that while the Grand Old Party was "shrinking" day by day, there are several regional parties that are fighting both the BJP and the Congress.

Significantly, Mahtab described Nitish as a seasoned politician and said that though the Bihar chief minister had not staked his claim to lead the proposed anti-BJP front, he was in a formidable position to get the job.

Edited by Mehraj D. Lone

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