Lalu Prasad's was successful in giving voice to marginalized but the upper caste who were deliberately sidelined became his strong critic and a series of violent clashes began in the countryside between upper caste who tried to assume power again and the backwards who were vying for the power and position dominated in the erstwhile period by the upper castes. According to Arun Sinha, the three "upper backward" castes were at the fore in improving their socio-political condition and were putting stiff resistance to the efforts of "upper castes" to dominate once again. But the growing differences between Yadavs with Kurmi and Koeris led Nitish Kumar to form Samata Party. The upper caste also supported Nitish in order to project him as a challenge to the growing dominance of Yadavs and Lalu Prasad.