Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad have meticulously blended their political planks - growth with justice and Mandal Raj-II, respectively - to pick up candidates for the Grand Alliance so that the BJP-led NDA could be stopped repeating its 2014 general election feat in the Assembly polls.

Growth with justice - Nitish's buzzword - precisely means giving preferential treatment to the extremely backward classes (EBCs) and Mahadalits. And the "Mandal Raj-II" that Lalu has coined repeating it at his successive meetings reflects the RJD chief's game plan to consolidate the backward classes headed the numerically preponderant Yadavs and pit them against the upper castes.

Top sources in the Grand Alliance said they had, as a part of the strategy, accommodated the upper castes in the Congress to send across the message that they were not unjust to the upper castes. It is evident from the fact that the Congress has 16 of its 41 candidates belonging to the upper castes.

On the other hand, the RJD has thoroughly omitted the upper caste Bhumihars, believed to be hostile to Lalu's brand of politics, from its list and has given ticket to 48 Yadavs among other backward classes and Muslims. In an obvious bid to break into Lalu's Yadav bastion, the BJP has fielded 22 Yadavs - its highest number of the state's single largest caste so far.

But the BJP is still far short of the RJD in preferring the Yadavs. Moreover, the NDA has fielded over 85 upper castes candidates against 39 in the Grand Alliance, reflecting that the BJP was still heavily relying on around 15 per cent upper castes as its "core" support base.

If observed carefully, the blend of Lalu's "Mandal Raj-II" and Nitish's "growth with justice" can be found evenly spread all across the state - from south Bihar to central Bihar and southeastern Bihar on the south of the Ganga and from Kosi-Seemanchal to Champaran, Mithila and Saran regions to the south of the Ganga. For example, the RJD took out the Jehanabad seat, a nerve centre of protracted battle between the upper caste Bhumihars on one hand and backward and Dalits on the other, in its share and has fielded a Yadav candidate against the NDA's Bhumihar one. Lalu took this seat in his party's share despite the JDU's Bhumihar, Abhiram Sharma winning it twice successively. "The idea is simple. The Yadav, OBCs and Muslims will combine to defeat the BJP's Bhumihar nominee," said a senior Grand Alliance strategist.

Here is an example of Nitish's "growth with justice" formula at play in Bagaha in the Champaran region. The JDU has fielded an EBC candidate rooted to the ground, Bhishm Sahni, against former IAS officer and Brahmin R.S. Pandey. The grand alliance banks on the EBCs, Yadavs and Muslims combining against Pandey whose strength is his "high-profile status" and his caste men.

The RJD has fielded a Yadav on the Rajput-dominated Raghunathpur seat against the BJP's Manoj Singh, a Rajput. The Rajputs are numerically preponderant in Raghunathpur. But the RJD's calculation is based on combining the Yadav and Muslims who too have sizeable presence to nail the BJP.

The Congress has tactically fielded the progenies of its upper caste veterans of yore to win against the BJP - the favoured party of the upper caste at present. For instance, the grand old party has fielded Sudarshan Kumar, grandson of late Rajo Singh, a Bhumihar Congress veteran who had never tasted defeat on this seat in his life, against the BJP's upper caste nominee. The Congress banks on the backward castes and Muslims combining in its candidate's favour to trounce the BJP on what was once its pocket borough which the first chief minister, Shri Krishna Sinha, represented.

Sources said Nitish, as a part of the Grand Alliance's strategy, will concentrate on 142 seats shared between the JDU and Congress propagating his mantra of development and "growth with justice", while Lalu will concentrate more on his 101 seats beating the drum of "Mandal Raj-II".

"We have blended our secularism with Nitish's growth with justice mantra and Lalu's call for Mandal Raj-II to make a winning combination against the BJP. Let's see our strategy works or the BJP's," a senior Congress leader said.