Nitish Kumar had to come to terms with this arrangement as he wanted to prove a point to Lalu who had returned to power despite Nitish pulling off from the Janata Dal.
The BJP was also looking out for a credible OBC face that could challenge Lalu's hegemony in Bihar.
The BJP was almost a political pariah at that time and any kind of support from socialist leaders like George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar meant a lot to the party at that time.
Under these circumstances, the alliance between BJP and JD(U) was sealed in Bihar. Nitish knew that he had a clean image but there was no grass root infrastructure.
The BJP, on the other hand, had grass root infrastructure, thanks to RSS network in the state, but the party lacked a credible face at the state level. So in 1995, both the BJP and Nitish Kumar complemented each other.
The coming together of Nitish Kumar and BJP consolidated the opposition index. In 2005, all anti-Lalu forces joined hands under the Nitish Kumar led NDA. Even at that time, it was Lalu Prasad who had the biggest support base in the state.
Lalu had the unflinching support of Yadavs constituting 11 percent of the electorate and Muslims constituting 16 percent of the electorate. Nitish, on his own, was in no position to challenge Lalu Prasad given the fact that his own caste men' Kurmis ‘constituted 1.5-2 % of the electorate.
