JUMPING THE GUN

On April 15, Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal was among the last to arrive at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s house for an Iftar party. But that is not all Jaiswal is late for. He is yet to placate Nitish after making a comment that Nitish will be CM only till 2025. It was construed as a signal from the BJP that it might be thinking ahead of the alliance. On April 16, the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s drubbing of the BJP by over 36,000 votes in the Bochaha assembly bypoll made it clear that Jaiswal’s assertions may well have alienated Nitish’s voters.