The ruling Grand Alliance in Bihar was possibly hoping that senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former deputy chief minister of the state Sushil Kumar Modi would be the Opposition's nominee to the Rajya Sabha.
When it became clear that Modi, a strident critic of the state government's "missteps", would not be going to Delhi, both the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) started heaping praise on him. The two parties are major constituents of the Grand Alliance.
"But he (Modi) will not leave the Grand Alliance in peace," said a BJP leader. He added that both Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad knew Modi since the days of the anti-Emergency movement in the 1970s. "It's natural they wish him well," he said.
