Battlelines are drawn for a straight, fierce, and bitter contest between the NDA and the I.N.D.I.A bloc in Bihar, for the two-phase election scheduled from November 6 to 11. However, amid tall claims of “all is well” within both camps, it appears that “nothing is well” on either side of the fence.

Internal dissension and rumblings plague both alliances. In NDA, the JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is reportedly unhappy with the BJP’s attempts to cut him down to size.

First, he has not been officially declared the chief ministerial candidate, even though the BJP depends heavily on him to win Bihar. Secondly, for the first time in 25 years, the BJP and JD(U) will contest on equal number of seats, effectively doing away with the ‘big brother’ tag for Nitish and his party. T

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