and urban population, specially the trader class. Later, he consolidated his vote base by including many other deprived communities in the fold of this newly formed alliance, which included some of the caste groups placed at the lowest level in the caste hierarchy like Doms and Musahars. The support among them was sought by placing them into the category of Mahadalit which entailed separate affirmative actions for their socio-economic advancement. The distribution of bicycles for school girls from poor families were other steps taken by him. Kumar sought the transfer of a portion of backward caste votes which was to be merged with BJP's vote base in order to make the alliance formidable one. In the subsequent years, Kumar remained critical to the Yadav's politics and even accused his rule as Jungleraj (the era of misgovernance) while reminding his electorate of the same. It was reported that after assuming power in 2005, he let the law enforcement authorities loose on the petty criminals and also on those who were patronised during his predecessor's regime. There have been instances when Kumar engaged in the battle of words against Yadav family. In 2010, Rabri Devi reportedly called Kumar a "thief" and "dishonest" to which Kumar also responded by calling Yadav family, recalcitrants who have decided never to reform. In 2015, following his ideological differences with the Bharatiya Janta Party, Nitish Kumar switched the grand old alliance becoming the member of Mahagathbandhan or the grand alliance along with his chief political rival Rashtriya Janata Dal of Yadav. Earlier, Kumar had been contesting the elections upon the promises of development which was evident from the manifesto of his party but the new alliance brought the conundrum of confronting BJP's Hindutva politics. The Bharatiya Janata Party had been securing the victories on the basis of its majoritarian ideology as well as "Modi factor" amidst communally charged political atmosphere. The BJP also secured the support of two of the influential caste groups, earlier believed to be the supporters of Yadav and Kumar by managing to win Upendra Kushwaha and Lok Janshakti Party to its side. The Hindutva politics was to confront the caste politics as put by social historian Badri Narayan, who identified the political turmoil of 2015 as a part of the challenge faced by many regional political parties and the leaders all of which enjoyed the support of specific caste groups within their states.