Nitish Kumar's 3 moves that showed he still matters in Bihar politics

It is still not clear whether the BJP has faced a decisive defeat in the just-concluded bypolls in

, but certainly JD(U) leader and former chief minister of Bihar

is the man of the moment in Bihar politics after the victory of his grand alliance with

's RJD and the Congress. In fact, the seasoned politician gave three crucial moves to convey that he is still a force in the state.

Resigning as CM and paving way to a backward representative to become the CM

Nitish Kumar's first big move was resigning as the chief minister of Bihar after the results of the Lok Sabha election were out. His decision was based on safe grounds for he knew that no other party was in the position to form a government in the state at the moment and through making Jitan Ram Manjhi, a representative of the extremely backward Mushahar community the next chief minister, Nitish Kumar not only allayed fears of his partymen about losing power in the state but also got the support of the backward communities by empowering one of their representatives. Even Lalu Prasad, known to be Nitish Kumar's biggest enemy, extended support to the Manjhi government in May, adding values to what Nitish Kumar had planned about.

Getting Lalu's backing in Rajya Sabha by-polls

Nitish Kumar's second move came ahead of the Rajya Sabha by-election. The BJP succeeded in influencing five MLAs of the JD(U) and they claimed to have the backing of more MLAs from the party. Sensing trouble, Nitish Kumar decided to cement his ties with Lalu Prasad to counter the BJP and sent two members to the Rajya Sabha with help of the latter's RJD. For external observers, it was a face-saving exercise for Nitish Kumar but for him and his supporters, it was an apt reply to the BJP's ambitions.

Grand alliance for the assembly by-polls

Nitish Kumar made the third move by entering the by-poll fray with Lalu Prasad's JD(U) and the Congress. Nitish was very much aware of the fact that there would be little problem in the future if he forms an alliance with arch-rival Lalu Prasad for the latter is a convicted politician and would not be able to claim any top political position. The RJD has no other top leader while the Congress is simply fighting for its survival. Nitish Kumar can work more on the alliance to make it a long-standing one and beat the BJP once again in the prestigious assembly election next year.

After a dull transition period between two alliances, Nitish Kumar has a lot to gain for sure.