Does Nitish's praise of Budget hint at realignment?

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose party JD(U) is an ally of the BJP, on Thursday lavished praise on Finance Minister P Chidambaram the Union Budget. Nitish Kumar's praising Chidambaram indicated that political permutations and combinations may soon change as his stand on the Union Budget is contradictory to the BJP's which criticised it for being nothing more than verbose. Nitish said that granting of extra funds to Bihar was a victory 'in-principle' for the state in view of its consistent demand for such a status.

Sources say that Nitish Kumar is angry with the BJP which is preparing for the next Lok Sabha elections and may give Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi a prominent role.

The BJP blamed the UPA government for slow economic growth and crisis. But even as most of the NDA constituents attacked and blamed the UPA, some alliance partners were stood aside. Nitish Kumar praised the budget soon after Chidambaram's speech got over and claimed that it was budget for development and a victory for his ideology. Kumar claimed that his demand for a special category status for Bihar has got a boost.

His stand on the budget is surprising and hints that the political landscape may soon see some changes. His stand also puts a question mark on the BJP-JD(U) alliance and the fate of the NDA which is hoping to defeat UPA in the next Lok Sabha elections. JD(U) MP NK Singh did not give a straight forward reply about when IBN7 Managing Editor Ashutosh asked him about Nitish Kumar's reactions. Singh simply said that if no good work was done in the past, it does not mean that it would not be done in the future.

Singh's refusal to answer also gives many clues as the JD(U) has been praising the budget even its ally the BJP could find nothing right with it. For the BJP, Nitish Kumar's stand is a warning but senior BJP MP Yashwant Singh said that he ha\d full faith in the Bihar Chief Minister's anti-Congress stand during an interview with IBN7 Political Editor Sukesh Ranjan. Sinha said that Nitish Kumar would never support the Congress.