Chief minister Nitish Kumar (left) at the Holi Milan function in Patna. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, March 10: The latest Assembly election results seem to have given a psychological advantage to regional parties in Bihar over their “big brothers”.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar used Holi to send a warning to national parties –including JD(U)’s ally BJP —not to undermine the importance of regional parties.

“The era of coalition is on and people in Delhi should think about respecting the federal structure of the country,” he said while speaking to a section of media on Friday at a Holi Milan function at 1 Aney Marg.

He stressed regional parties get voter’s support because they reflect the aspirations of the local people.

Talking about the victory of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Nitish said leaders like Badal and Karunanidhi have remained politically strong since 1967.

He hinted that he did not foresee a single party forming the government at the Centre in the near future.

“It was said in the context of national parties performing badly in the recently concluded polls,” said JD(U) national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari.

“In Punjab, the Akalis won. The BJP lost as many as seven seats,” he said, pointing out that both the BJP and the Congress won Assembly polls in smaller states like Manipur and Goa.

“In the real battlefield of power, both the so called national parties lost,” he said, adding that it was time for the national parties to stop playing “big brother” to regional parties.

The JD(U), which failed to win even a single seat in UP, has been blaming the BJP’s “big brother” attitude for the two allies going separately in UP.

“The JD(U) was asking for 53 seats but the BJP was giving a humiliating 20 seats,” said a senior party leader, adding that the haggling for a respectable number of seats was witnessed even in states like Jharkhand. He said in Bihar, where the JD(U) is the major party, the BJP was offered 103 out of 243 seats.

Despite sharp political differences, another strong regional party, the RJD agreed with JD(U)’s view.

“The election results show that the national political parties cannot survive without regional parties and there is no scene of a single party coming to the power at the Centre. The mandate given to the national parties are by the people and former should take regional outfits into confidence before taking any step,” said RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav.

The RJD has had its own troubles with its former ally — the Congress.

Ever since the break-up during the last Lok Sabha polls, the Congress has been ignoring calls from the RJD for a united front against Nitish’s leadership. A section in the RJD feels that their leader, Lalu Prasad, deserves better treatment from the Congress if they are serious about taking on Nitish in Bihar.

“Successive bypolls have proved that the RJD is the main contender in Bihar,” said another senior RJD leader.

However, both the RJD and the JD(U) are silent on the issue of being members of the “forth front”.

Regional fronts formed in the past have failed to take off. Even in the last Lok Sabha polls, a front formed by the Samajwadi Party, the RJD and the LJP failed to get anywhetre closer to the desired result. In the 1990s, a front formed by Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad collapsed within six months as Lalu switched his loyalties to the Congress.

“It is too early to speak about morchas (fronts),” said a senior JD(U) leader.