Having had a good ride over the last eight years since the Janata dal (United), with BJP, assumed power in Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar seems to have hit a rough patch of late. While the loss of the by-election for the Maharajganj Lok Sabha seat may still be called a one-off incident, state leaders of both parties are waking up to the fact that the honeymoon period, and the Nitish Kumar government’s good governance card may have outlasted its term. What’s also worrying is the victory margin for the RJD candidate, which went up to 1.37 lakh.

The alliance is Bihar is in a not-too-happy situation, due largely to the CM’s opposition to “communal” Narendra Modi, seen by most as the BJP’s, and thereby NDA’s, prime ministerial candidate in 2014 elections. State BJP leaders had earlier come out in an open revolt against Kumar.

Kumar himself has tried to downplay the defeat, saying, “Let RJD be on cloud nine...this jubilation is short lived…. Though we lost, the vote percentage of JD(U) has increased in the bypoll from that in last general election and assembly elections in 2010.”

But BJP’s national general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy hit back on June 6, a day after the results were announced: “JD(U) will need Narendra Modi in Bihar much like the BJP will need him at the national level during the elections.”

In such a scenario, with his support base reportedly dwindling in his second term as the CM and ground reports and some early surveys suggesting a tough time for both JD(U) and BJP if they fight the polls separately, should Kumar rethink his opposition to Modi for the sake of the alliance in Bihar?