Bihar Polls: What Worked For NDA, What Didn't For INDIA Bloc

Patna- Keep your friends close and your enemies closer; the famous line from Francis Coppola's 'The Godfather' appears to have been a guiding principle for the NDA in Bihar under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, which closely tracked the moves of the opposition to outwit them when the time was ripe.

The ruling coalition began rolling out a series of benefits and announcements, seemingly unfazed by opposition taunts that it was being a“copycat”.

Shortly after RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who would later be named as the chief ministerial candidate of the opposition INDIA bloc, had announced that if voted to power, the coalition would give 200 units of free power, the longest-serving CM, once a vocal critic of“freebies”, did a volte-face of a different kind.

Kumar announced 125 units of free power every month, which meant large sections of a population with very little energy consumption needs would have to pay next to nothing by way of electricity bills.

The move may have offset the public anger that was building up in the wake of“prepaid meters”, which were being blamed for inflated bills and could have become a major issue during elections.

However, this was not all. Another attractive promise of Yadav, who was being called“the most preferred CM candidate” in several opinion polls, was to bring in“100 per cent domicile”.

While the legality of such a move would have always been under question, the Nitish Kumar government came out with an ingenious take. It announced 100 per cent domicile“only for women who already enjoyed 35 per cent reservations in all government departments.”

While the quotas had already endeared the regime to the state's female workforce, the“domicile” policy ensured that the benefit accrued to those whose loyalty mattered at the hustings.

In addition, there have been a number of other measures through which the government was able to tide over the fatigue that was setting in with the same dispensation being in place for two decades.

These included a hike in stipends paid to workers in the unorganised sector, like Aasha and Aanganwadi Jeevika, and an increase in the pension given to elderly women and other socially vulnerable groups.

Moreover, Yadav's bid to win over women through a 'Mai Bahin Samman Yojana' was stymied by the 'Mukhymantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana', under which Rs 10,000 has been transferred into the accounts of each of over one crore women.

The young RJD leader was left with no option but to recoil in horror, declaring that he would make“no new announcements till the model code of conduct came into force”, making it impossible for the government to“copy” any of his promises.

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