India, April 15 -- Samrat Choudhary from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be the new chief minister of Bihar. For the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state, which has held power for roughly 16 out of the past 21 years, this is a moment of both continuity and change. Continuity, because the alliance continues to enjoy political dominance, and its principal political rival, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) remains in disarray. Change, because the BJP and not the Janata Dal (United) will now lead the government. The ideological significance of the latter cannot be over-emphasised. Nitish Kumar won power in Bihar in 2005, after the BJP had lost it at the Centre in 2004. The success in dislodging Lalu Prasad's 15-year-old regime was attributed to a counter-polarisation of the subaltern against the RJD's sectarian ways and a tactical alliance with the upper castes. By the early 2000s, the latter had deserted the Congress to rally behind the BJP. This is what made the NDA in Bihar a unique coalition of extremes rather than a junior partner to the larger ideological project of the RSS-BJP in the country. With a BJP chief minister taking the reins of power in the state, Bihar's exceptionalism ends now. What should one expect from the change of guard in the state? Regarding governance and political and economic matters, one should largely expect the status quo. Nitish Kumar's health had been indifferent for the past few years. Chaudhary was his deputy and in charge of crucial subjects such as law and order in the new government. The BJP's real challenge in the state will be to pre-empt a political counter-polarisation by the RJD and some possible disquiet in the JD(U) ranks. This is where Chaudhary's roots as a Kushwaha - a numerically non-dominant Other Backward Class group - and the son of a politician who was a veteran player in both the RJD and Samata Party, the JD(U)'s predecessor, become important. The choice clearly shows that the BJP is invested in preserving the Mandal-based caste messaging and praxis in Bihar's politics, and is willing to bypass its more organic leadership in the state to address this concern. The political signalling in the choice could not have been clearer: Kamandal or Hindutva in Bihar, even at its moment of dominance, is subsuming rather than othering Mandal or vanguardist OBC politics. The corollary: It will not be easy to outflank it by old-school Mandal politics alone....