Patna, Jan. 30: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today set out on a poll campaign to Uttar Pradesh, a programme that observers described as an effort to carry out “plantation” on a land that is largely “barren” for him.

“Our party, the JD(U), has fielded about 300 candidates in UP. We are in a good position and expect to do well,” Nitish said after having lunch at the house of Manjit Singh, the JD(U) MLA from Baikunthpur, ahead of leaving for the poll-bound state. UP has 403 Assembly constituencies. The JD(U) is contesting the polls on its own.

Nitish, however, chose to play down the JD(U)’s decision not to enter into an alliance with its partner in Bihar, the BJP, for the election in UP. He said: “Fighting separately in UP has nothing to do with the JD(U)’s ties with the BJP in Bihar. Our alliance is intact in Bihar. Different states have different situations.”

Baikunthpur, situated in Gopalganj district, is the last of the Assembly constituencies in Bihar. From there, Nitish entered Tamkuhi Raj and Khadda, the Assembly constituencies in eastern UP. Assembly seats such as Tamkuhi Raj, Khadda, Padrauna, Hata and Salempur in Uttar Pradesh — despite being close to Mairwa, Baikunthpur and Bhore seats in Bihar — have seldom given a chance to Bihar-based regional parties — be it the JD(U) or Lalu Prasad’s RJD.

What apparently prompted the observers to describe Nitish’s venture in UP as an “effort to do plantation on a barren field” is the fact that the ruling JD(U) in Bihar, or for that matter any other Bihar-based parties, did not win a single of the 59 Assembly seats in the bordering districts during the 2007 elections. These seats are scheduled for polling in the second phase of elections to be held on February 11.

In 2007, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had won 31 seats as against Samajwadi Party’s 18 and BJP’s seven in these 59 segments. The Independents had bagged two seats, while the Congress won one seat in the 59-seat Purvanchal region.

But then winning seats, apparently, is not the sole reason for the big regional satraps to make poll-time forays into neighbouring states. Nitish might be aware that the JD(U) might not win seats in UP by going it alone. Even if the JD(U) fails to win seats, Nitish will not be a loser. By fielding about 300 candidates, he might expect the JD(U) nominees to get enough votes to earn the party the theoretical status of a national party.