Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumaron Thursday said the defeat of JD(U)) in Maharajganj bypoll has no bearing on the NDA alliance.
“Our alliance is intact…members of coalition worked together in the Maharajganj by-election,” Kumar said, dismissing suggestions of rift within NDA.
“NDA workers laboured hard sincerely in Maharajganj bypoll,” he told reporters at Patna Airport on return from Delhi.
The defeated JD(U) candidate in Maharajganj P K Shahi had said yesterday that there was lack of enthusiasm among some NDA workers and lack of poll management which cost the poll.
This set the tongue waging that BJP workers did not worked hard for victory of Shahi due to JD(U)’s opposition to Narendra Modi which has resulted in bickering among leaders of the two NDA partners.
Nitish Kumar is chairman of NDA in Bihar and BJP leader and minister Nand Kishore Yadav is the convenor.
He said Maharajganj bypoll result was no cause of worry for him. “Maharajganj seat was with RJD which they have retained. There is nothing to go euphoric about it,” he said. On RJD President Lalu Prasad taking potshot at him on defeat of JD(U) candidate by over 1.37 lakh votes in Maharajganj, Kumar, who is senior JD(U) leader, said “Let RJD be on cloud nine…this jubilation is short lived.”
Seeking to take virtue out of the defeat, he said, “Though we lost, the vote percentage of JD(U) has increased in the bypoll from that in last General election and Assembly elections in 2010.”
“The JD(U) had won only 5 seats out of 18 Assembly seats in by-elections in 2009. But, the people voted JD(U) and BJP to a record victory in 2010 Assembly polls and RJD faced humiliating defeat,” he said, seeking to playdown political impact on 2014 parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, seeking to downplay the NDA defeat in Maharajganj by-poll, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has said it did not reflect the mood of the common man. The defeat “does not reflect the mood of the common man,” he said in a statement last night.
“This was virtually a victory of Prabhunath Singh (RJD candidate) who has represented the constituency three times in the past,” he said.
Modi, who is senior BJP leader in Bihar, said though defeat in Maharajganj bypoll was not a cause of tension but still “it will be reviewed by the NDA leaders.”
He also reiterated the point made by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that NDA had fared badly in by-elections for 18 Assembly seats in 2009 during earlier NDA rule in the state but bounced back to a record victory in the 2010 Assembly elections. “NDA will achieve a big win in the coming Lok Sabha elections in 2014,” Modi, an architect of NDA alliance in Bihar along with the CM, said. (PTI)