Click to play videoNew Delhi: Nitish Kumar has every reason to think that he's flying high. In the uncertainty of a fractured verdict, he is being wooed by every national party as the man who can make or break the next government.
With the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, if Nitish gets even half, his support will be crucial. But beyond the simple arithmetic is the complex question of chemistry. The Congress has been trying to woo Nitish Kumar consistently for the past few weeks now, that effort peaking with Rahul Gandhi's press conference praising the Bihar Chief Minister.
But Nitish Kumar has been as consistently ignoring the Congress' hand and for good reason. The Congress doesn't have the numbers to protect his government in Bihar if he breaks his alliance with the BJP.
The Congress finally seems to have given up the chase.
Congress spokesperson Verrappa Moily said, "He is prepared to join hands with communal forces like BJP to continue to be Chief Minister. If he wants to be within the communal cauldron and burn himself, it is up to him. I don't think anybody can say anything."
Though the Congress still played the secular card in what looks like an effort to keep the door open just a crack, the fact is that the Bihar Chief Minister doesn't lack suitors, with the Left too joining the long line.
"We have made an appeal to all these parties. We have to see what their position will be after the elections," Prakash Karat said on Friday.
The BJP, with whom Nitish is already in alliance, can afford to flaunt him in the face of the others chasing him.
BJP spokesperson, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Our relationship with Nitish Kumar is 15 years old. We have fought four Lok Sabha elections together and four Vidha Sabha elections together. His commitment to NDA is impeccable."
Nitish Kumar ususally maintains a low profile, preferring to avoid the limelight, but he is the wanted man with both national parties hoping to catch his attention. And the one who gets to catch him may well turn out to form the government at the Centre.
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