Ruling JDU’s loss in Bihar’s Maharajganj Assembly by-poll comes as an “exception” when all the parties in power have registered victory in the recent by-elections, Congress said on Friday.
Party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary, while downplaying the by-poll results as natural win of the ruling parties in states, said the loss of ruling JD(U) is an exception for “the BJP has to be worried that one of their allies have lost election. They are going to lose an ally in future.”
Asked about the speculation that BJP did not work to ensure the JD(U) nominee’s win in the by-poll despite it being a prestige issue for Nitish Kumar, Ms. Chowdhary said, “BJP has to examine their conscience. Only they can say what they have done.”
About the RJD’s victory in the by-poll, she remarked, “Jo jeeta wahi Sikandar (the winner takes all).” The Congress spokesperson, however, remained non-committal on whether her party would go in for an alliance with RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
Ms. Chowdhary’s remark came in the backdrop of a war of words between the two NDA parties over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s chances of becoming BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy’s views that Mr. Modi was required by his party and ally JD(U) to improve prospects in the general elections in Bihar and elsewhere in the country, have expressed strong reactions from JDU.
While JD(U) general secretary Shivanand Tiwari tersely on Thursday said that the JD(U) does not need Mr. Modi, its spokesman Neeraj Kumar said in Patna on Friday that there was no need to “outsource” a leader in Bihar.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s antipathy to Mr. Modi is well-known and there is unanimity in JD(U) that it will part ways with BJP if the Gujarat Chief Minister is declared the Prime Ministerial candidate.
The defeat of ruling JD(U) in Bihar was a major victory for RJD chief Lalu Prasad, whose party won the Lok Sabha by-poll from Maharajganj with a margin of over 1.37 lakh votes.
