BJP knew it all along that Nitish would go

New Delhi, Aug 10: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made no effort to convince Nitish Kumar to stay on in the alliance in Bihar. Nitish announced his split from the NDA and went on to seek the support of the RJD to form the government.

The BJP maintains that the move by Nitish is act of betrayal and in doing so he has lost his credibility. Moreover the BJP is also aware that Nitish is nurturing national dreams in 2024.

In Bihar the BJP has played the role of a big brother and this had riled Nitish no end. He was also concerned that the BJP may try and split the JD(U) and this had made him extremely edgy.

The BJP not reacting to this entire crisis only shows that the party would focus on the next elections in the state. The party's focus would be on all the 243 constituencies in the state.

The BJP also took into account that the stature of Nitish Kumar in Bihar is diminishing. In the previous elections held in 2020, Nitish Kumar contested with the BJP. While the RJD was the top party with 75 seats, the BJP bagged 74. However it was the JD(U) which put up a disappointing performance and bagged just 43 seats with a vote share of 15.39 per cent. The BJP on the other hand managed to bag a vote share of 19.46 per cent.

In 2024 the BJP will contest with the United Lok Janshakti Party and other smaller caste based parties.

The LJP managed to win just one seat in the 2021 elections with a vote share of 5.66 per cent. BJP sources tell OneIndia that it is confident of a good showing in the Bihar elections both in the assembly as well as Lok Sabha segments.