Nitish-Lalu deals humiliating blow to BJP

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance won a landslide victory in the Assembly polls by securing 178 of the 243 seats, leaving Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA with a humiliating defeat on Sunday.

The BJP-led NDA, which had the LJP, HAM and RLSP as its constituents, could bag merely 58 seats in a fiercely fought contest as the results proved many exit polls, political pundits and pollsters wrong.

Sunday’s victory was the third consecutive win by Nitish, who took over the Bihar mantle in November 2005 and maintained his winning streak in 2010 Assembly polls.
In the early hours, initial trends showed that the NDA was headed for victory.

Buoyed by such reports, celebrations started in the BJP’s Patna office where laddoos were distributed and crackers burst on the Beer Chand Patel Marg. The trend reversed as the counting progressed. The celebration shifted to the JD(U) and the RJD offices on the same road, while the mood at BJP office became sombre. By evening, a pall of gloom descended on the BJP office, while “Mahagatbandhan” leaders smeared “gulal” (colours) on each other.

The results, for which the entire country waited anxiously, proved that Nitish’s image of a leader who could provide good governance and maintain the rule of law, coupled with Lalu Prasad’s vote base, worked wonders for the Grand Alliance where the JD(U) won 71, RJD 80 and Congress 27.

The BJP could win only 53 seats while the LJP settled for 2, RLSP 2 and HAM 1. The saffron brigade heaved a sigh of relief when senior BJP leader and an aspirant for CM’s post Nand Kishore Yadav won from his bastion Patna Sahib.

HAM president and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, contesting from two seats, lost from Makhdumpur but won from Imamganj, defeating Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary. Contesting 20 seats, the HAM could win only one. The sons of two BJP MPs, Dr C P Thakur and Ashwani Choubey, Vivek Thakur and Arijit Shashwat, respectively lost the polls. 

LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan suffered a body blow when his younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras lost from Alauli (in Khagaria) while his nephew Prince Raj lost from Kalyanpur in Samastipur. Paswan’s son-in-law Anil Kumar Sadhu also lost from Bochaha in Muzaffarpur to Baby Kumari, an Independent candidate. 

Lalu’s sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav, both making their electoral debut, won from Mahua and Raghopur seat, respectively. The Congress was the major gainer. Contesting 41 seats, it won 27. Among others, CPI-ML secured 3 seats, while Independents won four. The Samajwadi Party, NCP, AIMIM and Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Party could not even open their account.