A video war has broken out between rivals NDA and the Grand Alliance even as electioneering comes to an end for the Bihar Assembly polls.

This time, the two camps dug out old video clips to target each other.

Ironically, when such incidents occurred, political alliances were vastly different. The JDU and the BJP were allies, while the LJP, Congress and the RJD were rivals of the two parties. The BJP on Monday released the video clips of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar batting for five per cent reservation on religious grounds, cutting the quota share of the Extremely Backward Classes and SC/ST.

The JDU hit back sharply at the party office by showing an old video clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting self-styled godman Asaram Bapu who is at present lodged in jail in connection with a rape case.

BJP leader and junior Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, once considered the "Hanuman" of Lalu, released the video clips of his ex-boss and Nitish separately batting for reservation on religious grounds at two different functions on July 23 and 24 at SK Memorial Hall. In the video, Lalu is seen speaking on the issue of religious reservation at Pasmanda Muslim Sammelan on July 23, 2005. In the same video, in other clips, Nitish is seen demanding reservation for backward Muslims.

The incidents date back to the President's rule in the state and both Nitish and Lalu were preparing for the Assembly elections, which was scheduled in November - the second to be held in a year after the February Assembly polls threw up a hung Assembly.

The BJP video is the one which Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Madhubani rally on Sunday referred to while slamming Lalu-Nitish. He claimed that these leaders favoured reservation on religious grounds.

Ram Kripal Yadav said: "The video clips expose both Lalu and Nitish about their backward-Dalit love. Their backward-Dalit love is merely an eyewash for votes." Ram Kripal, who joined the BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, after being denied a ticket by the RJD, blamed both Lalu and Nitish for keeping the people of the state backward.

Incidentally, Lalu in his public meetings held in Seemanchal last week, said religion-based reservation is not possible because of the Indian Constitution. Countering the BJP, the JDU also released the video clips of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then the chief minister of Gujarat, meeting Asaram Bapu. In the video, Modi is seen seeking blessings from the "godman".

The video was shot at a religious function where Modi is seen seeking blessings from Asaram Bapu.

The JDU's other video is of Modi meeting astrologer Bejan Daruwalla and showing him his palm. According to reports, Daruwalla at a function in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) on Sunday said Modi had once asked him to read his palm. After a read, the astrologer had said that Modi possessed great strength.

Taking a jibe at Modi, JDU spokesperson Sanjay Kumar Singh said: "Modi has no right to mock at Nitish Kumar for his visit to a tankrik, as he himself has done the same thing earlier."

The Bihar battle has moved from real development to "tantra mantra" and a race between the NDA and the Grand Alliance in exposing each other through video clips.

On October 12, the BJP released a video of JDU minister Awadesh Kushwaha accepting a bribe, later Union minister Giriraj Singh, too, put up a video on YouTube showing Nitish meeting and hugging a tantrik (occult practitioner).