For Mr Kumar, then, this is a double role that must drag on: in public, the polite but self-assured ally who will stand his ground; privately, the politician who is boxed in by the knowledge that he is being put - and kept - in his place.

Nitish Kumar's supporters argue that his immediate clamping down on BJP leaders linked to last month's riots evidences his determination to put the BJP in its place if it crosses lines he has drawn an is unwilling to redraw.

The big learning in Bihar is this - Tejashwi Yadav can lead his party to victory even without his father at the centre of the RJD. His other message to Bihar is tongue-in-cheek - Chacha, he says, isn't old enough to lead you much longer; me, I can serve you for another 50 years; choose wisely.

Nitish Kumar offered Prime Minister Narendra Modi the opportunity to turn the once-prestigious Patna University into a campus entitled to funding from the centre. The Prime Minister passed. An audience of nearly 5,000 witnessed the exchange. And unsubtly, the Bihar Chief Minister was put in his place -again - by his new boss.

It was the Olympic Gold of political somersaults and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar seemed to manage a perfect landing right next to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for years his main rival.

When Nitish Kumar resigned as Chief Minister of Bihar this year, he said he was accepting responsibility for his party's humiliating result in the national election. The 63-year-old's Janata Dal United or JDU won just two of the state's 40 parliamentary seats. Mr Kumar picked as his successor Jitan Ram Manjhi, 72, a decision he must kick himself fo...