FILE photo: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
, the chief of the Aam Aadmi Party or AAP, has new friends watching his back. The Janata Dal (United), whose top leaders are Sharad Yadav and
Nitish Kumar, will support his bid for the parliamentary seat from Varanasi, where the 44-year-old is running against
Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.
Mr Yadav, in fact, will campaign for Mr Kejriwal, said KC Tyagi, a senior leader of the Janta Dal (United).
The covenant between the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) and Mr Kejriwal is an unsubtle rendition of "an enemy's enemy is a friend." Last year, the JD(U) extinguished a 17-year alliance with the BJP over its decision to make Mr Modi, 64, the frontman of its bid for the national election.
(India Votes 2014: full coverage)Opinion polls suggest that was a grave miscalculation by Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar. Of the 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar, the JD(U) is forecast to get about five.
(NDTV opinion poll: Break with BJP to cost Nitish Kumar big in Bihar)Nearly 18 per cent of Bihar's population is Muslim, and Mr Kumar is heavily dependent on its support. He has described Mr Modi as a divisive leader who did not do enough to check the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002 that took place on his watch and left more than 1,000 people dead, most of them Muslims.
A Supreme Court inquiry has said there is no evidence that Mr Modi was complicit in the riots; a Gujarat court has upheld that report.
"Arvindji is fighting these elections with all his might and anyone who supports him is welcome," said Manish Sisodia, a leader from Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party.
The JD(U) had also supported Mr Kejriwal's minority government in Delhi; he resigned as Chief Minister in February after a 49-day term.