Nitish Kumar and Abdul Bari Siddiqui

Patna, March 6: After a bitter war of words over Uttar Pradesh, the NDA allies, both having bitten the dust in the heartland state, are now chiming “All is Well” in Bihar.

The Janata Dal (United), which had fought the elections by itself in Uttar Pradesh and fielded over 200 candidates, is understood to have performed miserably. “I have heard that there are four seats where we have managed to save our deposits,” remarked a JD(U) legislator.

In 2007, when it contested 16 seats, the JD(U) won in a solitary constituency, Rari, where Dhananjay Singh emerged victorious. Dhananjay, however, later switched loyalties to the Bahujan Samaj Party and won a Lok Sabha berth.

The allies though had decided to contest against each other this time, with the BJP maintaining that since it was a national party, it could call the shots in states other than Bihar. The stand triggered a volley of barbs from its ally with JD(U) president Sharad Yadav being the most vocal.

The JD(U) today sought to paper over the differences. “We have fought elections against each other in the past in Gujarat and Rajasthan. It did not affect the relationship with the BJP then and it will have no impact now,” said JD(U) national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari.

He instead stressed that it was the Congress which was the ultimate loser, faring badly even in the Nehru-Gandhi pocketboroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli. “The Congress has been disqualified in the semi-final for the final (Lok Sabha polls),” Tiwari said.

Even though the JD(U) had no real hopes from Uttar Pradesh, the unfolding of the results was monitored by politicians. Chief minister Nitish Kumar skipped mediapersons in the early hours in the Assembly as did his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi.

The RJD though could not resist taking a dig at Nitish. “We did not contest polls in UP because we did not want to divide the secular votes. But what happened to the JD(U) and Nitish Kumar? The electorate of UP has rejected the most-flaunted Nitish model,” said leader of the Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

Political observers pointed out that there was a message for both the RJD and JD(U). Nitish had himself gone and campaigned in Uttar Pradesh and Sharad Yadav was unrelenting in his criticism of the BJP. After breaking the alliance with the BJP in that state, the JD(U) fielded more than 200 candidates. The joke doing the rounds now is about the number of votes the party’s candidates have won in the face of the Samajwadi Party sweep.

Bihar JD(U) chief Basishtha Narayan Singh said fighting polls in Uttar Pradesh was aimed at getting a toehold. “Had we decided to contest earlier and campaigned there more rigorously, the results would have been different,” he said, stressing that he felt a better result could have emerged had the BJP and JD(U) fought together. “The chief minister campaigned there in select places. His meetings did attract crowds,” Singh insisted.

A section of the BJP appears happy about the results, particularly the failure of the JD(U). “We can at least boast of maintaining our strength in UP apart from winning in a few small states. But had JD(U) managed a good show in UP, it would have given Nitish Kumar the chance to further push the BJP into a corner and leverage to get more concessions from the top leadership,” said a BJP leader stressing that the result in Uttar Pradesh meant status quo in the relationship of the allies in Bihar. “For now, the efforts of the JD(U) to project Nitish Kumar as a prime ministerial candidate have suffered a setback,” he added.

If the polls were a setback for the JD(U), it had also a message for the RJD — how to go about returning to power. “Just a change of style and priorities can make a great change,” said Siddiqui, pointing out how Mulayam Singh Yadav fought it out in Uttar Pradesh to regain his lost constituency.

RJD leaders say in private that they wish their leader Lalu Prasad follows in the steps of the Samajwadi Party chief and takes the battle to the streets of Bihar. The fact that Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP has drawn a blank in UP (the LJP has won a solitary seat in Manipur) also strengthens their belief that Lalu should not try to keep the Congress or the LJP in good humour and instead adopt, given the flavour of the season, the “Ekla Chalo Re (Walk alone)” policy.