The Bharatiya Janata Party’s big win in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections has paved the way for the coming together of the BJP and Janata Dal United in Bihar, with sources in both the parties saying that the coming together of the former alliance partners is likely to happen soon.

Sources close to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had refused to field JDU candidates in the Uttar Pradesh elections despite the party cadre pushing for it, said that Nitish Kumar, who is facing troubles from a belligerent Lalu Prasad Yadav and his party leaders, including former CM and Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi who have, time and again, said that Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav should become the CM of Bihar, has been waiting for the Uttar Pradesh election results before “seriously embarking” on the path to re-join hands with the BJP.

“The results of the UP elections will change political equations in Bihar. We have said this before too that we will be very happy to support the JDU in Bihar. The people of Bihar also want this to happen as governance and administration have taken a back seat in the state because of the RJD’s strong arm tactics. The backdoor talks in this regard have been going on for some time now,” a senior BJP leader said. Asked whether the JDU was planning to rejoin hands with the BJP, a senior JDU source said that there was “nothing impossible at the present”. As the election results poured in on Saturday afternoon, Sushil Kumar Modi, senior BJP leader and former Deputy CM, indicating the growing closeness between the two parties, wrote on Twitter: “Nitishji not fighting UP elections also helped BJP? Thanks to Nitishji.”

The fact that JDU did not put up its candidates in UP despite Nitish Kumar, who is himself a Kurmi, holding three public meetings in the Kurmi belt of eastern UP in May, June and July last year, had, according to political observers, helped the BJP in securing the Kurmi vote bank in Varansai, Mirzapur and Phulpur.

Nitish Kumar, who had left the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the wake of the announcement of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s PM candidate in 2014, too, has not hidden his intention to erase any “negativity’ that he had for Modi. Despite his alliance partners in Bihar, the RJD and the Congress, coming out aggressively against the demonetisation drive, Nitish Kumar had extended his support to the move. Similarly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking at the conclusion of “Prakash Parv”, a week-long festival held to mark the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, held in Patna in January, had praised Nitish Kumar for imposing prohibition in Bihar. “It’s very tough to make changes in society. [Nitish Kumar] has taken up the issue of prohibition in Bihar to save future generations. I heartily congratulate him for this and also appeal to all political parties, people of Bihar and all those working for society to support his prohibition campaign,” the Prime Minister had said.

Earlier, Sushil Kumar Modi, while speaking to The Sunday Guardian, had advised Kumar to join hands with the BJP and form government by severing ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress. Sushil Modi had reminded Nitish Kumar that his 17-year-long association with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance “was the golden period of his career during which he was the Railway Minister and CM of Bihar and enjoyed the trust of the BJP. But in the present Grand Alliance government, he is feeling suffocated both inside the House and outside.”