It is done. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has comprehensively thrown his hat in the ring as far as the prime ministerial stakes for the 2014 general elections go. While this development will have repercussions for the BJP, where the leadership matter is far from settled, it has, funnily enough, turned the spotlight on yet another chief minister: Bihar?s Nitish Kumar. As a leader of the BJP?s alliance partner, the Janata Dal (U), Nitish Kumar need not be the alternative to Modi. And yet, for all those uncomfortable with Modi and his brand of Hindutva, Nitish Kumar has become the anti-pole, an affable ?softer? face in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) stable.

Spin meisters feel that just as Atal Behari Vajpayee?s soft Hindutva appeal was a necessary counterpoint to the shriller rhetoric of the Sangh Parivar, Nitish Kumar?s minority-friendly ways would work the charm better than a polarising Modi. That the BJP is unable to find such a face among its own pantheon of leaders is another story altogether.

Nitish Kumar, a socialist of the Lohiaite persuasion, has only recently emerged from the socialist leadership crowd, to his own brand of politics: A blend of backward caste appeal, a soft approach to minorities and a development agenda that has made him the darling of economic writers across the board.

His political journey, however, was not really one of steady success or even of any great brilliance, till he swept the polls in Bihar in 2005. The son of a village vaid or medic, Kumar studied engineering and dabbled in different streams of politics in his youth. In his own recounting of this phase in his life, he recalls a friend of his, an RSS member, who would take him to watch the shakhas at work in the mornings. The young Nitish Kumar, although curious, would only watch and not join in.

Indeed, that seems to be the theme of Nitish Kumar?s engagement with the BJP and the saffron Parivar. He has never been averse to them, but has steadily maintained a distance to carve his own space in politics.

His formal entry into politics came in 1967, with the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal era in Bihar. Nitish Kumar, like many other socialists at that time, joined them. From 1971 onwards, the socialist movement in Bihar gained ground. Lalu Prasad Yadav was Patna University president and current Rajya Sabha member Shivanand Tiwari was the brains of the operation. Nitish Kumar was still a bit-player and tended to stay in the background. Even at that time, Kumar was friendly with RSS apparatchiks like Govindacharya. In fact, during the emergency in 1975, Kumar and Govindacharya evaded arrest together for a long time before they were finally caught while Kumar was visiting a friend.

Kumar?s politics was still a work in progress till 1989, when backward politics came into its own. A Kurmi by caste, Kumar was not as aggressive as Lalu Prasad Yadav when it came to backward class advocacy. Indeed, he, along with George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav, appeared uncomfortable with the ascendancy of both Yadav and VP Singh in socialist politics.

In 1993, Nitish Kumar marked a break with the Janata Dal by demanding a white paper on Bihar?s economy. LK Advani, who was visiting Patna at that time, endorsed this demand. Soon after, George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar formed the Samata Party. In 1995, as Nitish shared a dais with the BJP leaders at the BJP?s national executive in Mumbai, the idea of the NDA germinated.

Through all this, Nitish Kumar maintained his distance and his proximity to the RSS. Quite in the manner of Vajpayee, and to paraphrase his description a bit, he is perceived as ?the right man, in a small party.?

Political watchers believe that while Kumar is a good candidate, the small-scale operations that constitute the Janata Dal (U) will however hamper him. His track record in Bihar, sans the BJP, is not yet proven. What is also in doubt is whether he would be quite as vehemently opposed to Modi as PM if the BJP gets close to 140 seats in the Lok Sabha?

Nitish Kumar?s balancing act in the NDA points to a political mind which identifies the right side of events rather presciently. Will he end up on the right side of history in 2014, though?