Tejashwi’s Smart Move To Nitish’s Tactical Error: 10 Points From Bihar Exit Polls

Exit polls have predicted the ouster of the Nitish Kumar government after 15 years in power, clearing the way for RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to take over as the youngest-ever chief minister of Bihar. With a disclaimer that such polls have often turned out wrong, here are 10 takeaways if the exit poll figures turn out to be true on November 10.

Trump card

Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s emphatic promise that his first signature as the chief minister would be on the decision to provide 10 lakh government jobs appears to have done the trick. It earned him massive support from the youth in the state facing a staggering unemployment crisis, with the state currently having an unemployment rate of more than 46 per cent.

NDA confusion

Despite the fact that the top heads of the BJP, on numerous occasions repeated that LJP president Chirag Paswan's choice to challenge the polls without anyone else "against Nitish Kumar however not against Prime Minister Narendra Modi" was not part of their plan, it planted the seeds of doubt in the psyches of citizens about a potential implicit comprehension among BJP and LJP in their offer to debilitate Nitish Kumar. 

Nitish's flip flop 

Nitish went sledge and utensils against Prime Minister Modi in the last assembly elections and turned into the central minister during his third term as a partner of the RJD and Congress. Yet, he got back to the BJP eighteen months after the fact to shape the NDA government indeed. It didn't go down well, particularly with the Muslim citizens, who got back to RJD to reconsolidate Lalu's once-celebrated Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) vote bank of around 30%. 

Lockdown Blues 

At the point when the cross country lockdown was implemented in March, Nitish rushed to exhort the Bihari travelers not to leave where they were working a direct result of the pandemic. He proceeded to state that no one would be permitted to enter Bihar, yet the mass migration of



helpless travelers by walking from various states with their families got him unprepared. His declaration was interpreted as being hostile to traveler. 

Covid-19 crisis 

Despite the fact that Bihar's loss rate stayed one of the most minimal in the nation during the Covid-19 pestilence, he was pilloried for misusing the circumstance because of a deficient number of tests, particularly in the hinterland.

Anti-incumbency

Nitish has been in power for 15 years on the trot and there seemed to be a strong anti-incumbency wave in the state. Huge crowds at a young Tejahswi’s rallies were a tell-tale sign of that.

Development focus

During Nitish’s first half of his 15-year tenure, there was no patch on his second half in terms of Bihar’s development. His political switchovers since 2013 -- from BJP to RJD to BJP – had an adverse impact on his avowed development agenda in the latter half.

Scams and scandals

Nitish himself may not have faced any corruption scandal but the Muzaffarpur shelter home case and Srijan scam took the sheen off his government, which otherwise boasted of zero tolerance towards corruption in public life.

Losing big brother status

He may have returned to NDA in 2017 but JD-U ceased to be BJP’s big brother in the alliance. Now, they were equal partners. If there were any doubts about it, it was dispelled when BJP declined to give JD-U more than one berth in the Union cabinet after the 2019 general elections even though it had 16 MPs. It widened the chasm of difference between the old allies.

Swan song move

Nitish’s decision to announce that it was his last election towards the end of his campaign seemed to be a tactical mistake by him, as it gave an impression to the electorate that he was indeed on a sticky wicket and was making such an impassioned plea in the face of an imminent defeat.