Patna: Months before Bihar votes for its next government, the state is already locked into a full-scale battle between Nitish Kumar and the BJP.
To sell Mr Kumar's alleged shortcomings to the people, the BJP has shortlisted two disseminators - the radio and Jitan Ram Manjhi.
While he was Chief Minister, Mr Kumar distributed lakhs of radios to families from the Mahadalit caste, which makes up 23 per cent of the state's population. He said his government would use radio broadcasts to ensure the underprivileged were aware of welfare schemes that they were entitled to.
When he stepped down as Chief Minister last year, accepting responsibility for his party's rout in the national election, Mr Kumar picked Mr Manjhi, a Mahadalit leader, as his replacement. This month, Mr Manjhi ignored marching orders from the party to allow the return of Mr Kumar as head of the government. A trust vote tomorrow is likely to see Mr Manjhi forced out of office.
But the BJP is likely to support Mr Manjhi in the vote to signal its commitment to Mahadalits ahead of the state election. And it says it will buy radio spots to educate Mahadalits on how Mr Kumar "betrayed" them by evicting their leader from the highest elected office.