Goodbye Laloo, Welcome Nitish!

The Bihar verdict is out!! The voters have spoken!! Its been a vote for change this time in Bihar with the Rashtriya Janata Dal( RJD) alliance virtually wiped out of power in the state. Out of the 243 seats in the Bihar assembly, the National Democratic Alliance comprising the Janata Dal United and the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged a whopping 145 seats, well clear of the magic number of 122. The blame game has started but it was refreshing to see Laloo accept defeat gracefully and welcoming the new government in Bihar.

As far as the media coverage goes, it was extensive with every news channel wanting a chunk of the limelight. I even noticed that the different news channels were jostling over who gets to talk to the winner first and it ended with Barkha Dutt of NDTV dragging a NDA MP and filming an interview with him. It was also surprising to see Rajdeep Sardesai on CNBC. He has joined the channel and is currently involved in launching a 24 hour English news channel called IBN. Lots of ex NDTV journos are now involved in it and are helping Rajdeep as well. Hoping that it launches soon, because for Indian Politics, Rajedeep Sardesai is the man to watch.

On to other happenings and the India V South Africa match was abandoned in Chennai today due to persistent rain. Sad, considering that I had gone to the stadium and had to return disappointed.

The biggest challenge that the NDA has is to improve Bihar. The big question to be asked here is whether anyone can ever improve Bihar to a large extent and put Bihar on the path to recovery. Its a question, which will be answered, perhaps as time passes.

Cheers from a very wet Chennai!!