Leadership, development becoming crucial, says expert

NEW DELHI - The landslide victory for the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance in Bihar was an indication that leadership and development were “crucial factors”, political analyst G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said here Wednesday.

The ruling alliance led by Nitish Kumar is poised to win 201 of the 243 seats in Bihar, a result Rao described as “very unusual”.

“There are many elections which resulted in this kind of outcome,” Rao told IANS, adding that it was very unusual for the Hindi heartland though not so in places like Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

“People are voting more and more for governance and development,” he said, adding that the leadership factor was also becoming very important.

“Leadership and development becoming crucial factors,” he added, noting that caste and other such factors were becoming less prominent.