BETTIAH: In his fresh bid to energize party workers for the coming assembly polls with the launch of his Sampark Yatra from here on Thursday, former CM Nitish Kumar ‘prayed’ for a BJP rout at the hands of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi assembly polls.

Sniping at Narendra Modi's ‘achche din’ poll promise, Nitish pooh-poohed PM’s ‘Swachhta Abhiyan’ as a photo-op tamasha. “TV channels have exposed the campaign as 'photo-khichao abhiyan,” Nitish said. “Achche din toh sirf jhaadu ke aayen hain ( Good days have come for the broom),” he referred to media photo splashes of broom wielding BJP netas in their mock attempts at cleanliness.

“I hope the achche din for ‘jhaadu’ comes at least in Delhi,” Nitish said while addressing over 5,000 JD(U) workers at the Zila Karyakarta sammelan at the launch of his Sampark yatra here.

Whether Nitish comment was just one-off in jest or there lay a latent political message hinting at JD(U) support to AAP in Delhi polls, it triggered a flurry of speculations. One such speculation-factoring the backdrop of the meeting of the old Janata even suggested- in the backdrop the recent meeting of the old Janata-Socialist parivar at SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's New Delhi residence- that Nitish’s wishful quip for an AAP win in the Delhi polls may be indicative of a future attempt to reach out to Arvind Kejriwal led outfit as part of the anticipated grand alliance to counter the NDA. The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ experiment in Bihar bypolls has brought hope to the disarrayed parties humbled by the Modi juggernaut.