Patna, March 6 -- Caste has always shaped political fortunes in Bihar. Chief minister Nitish Kumar reaped rich rewards by packaging development politics with deft social engineering of combining different backward groups, Dalits, minorities and women. But now, as he transitions to the Rajya Sabha, there may be a churn. "In the past two decades or more, chief minister Kumar created his own support base by first winning over the extremely backward groups, mainly smaller groups in the Kosi and north Bihar region after 2005 as they were not happy with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Later, Kumar also created a base among women through various schemes, including reservations for women in local bodies, cycles for girl students and prohibition in ...