A new configuration

During the same visit to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar caused some flutter at the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) headquarters. At a Janata Dal (United) workers' convention in Pindara, Kumar said SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was still acceptable to the Grand Alliance in Bihar "to keep the communal BJP at bay". In a move that could be considered a direct reaction to Kumar's comment, Yadav hurriedly called a press conference and re-inducted former Union steel minister Beni Prasad Verma into the party. Verma, who, like Kumar, belongs to the Kurmi community, had left the SP in 2007 and joined the Congress before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.