Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shahnawaz Hussain on Sunday took a swipe at the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) as results of the Bihar Assembly bypolls poured in – the first election after the JD(U) snapped ties with the saffron camp and joined hands with the Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to form a Grand Alliance government in the state.
Hussain said the results sent a “clear message” that the JD(U) and RJD combine cannot defeat the BJP and that Bihar’s future lies with his party. He said the BJP will win all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in the next general election.
While RJD candidate Neelam Devi won the Mokama assembly seat, BJP’s Kusum Devi swept the Gopalganj constituency.
“The JD(U) severed ties with BJP and went to the RJD, but could not defeat the BJP in Goplaganj. Clear message that even together they can’t defeat BJP. Their victory margin went down in Mokama. It shows the future is the BJP’s. We’ll win all 40 seats in LS polls,” news agency ANI quoted the BJP leader.
The Mokama seat has been a stronghold of Neelam Devi’s husband Anant Singh since 2005 – whose disqualification in the Arms Act case necessitated the by-elections. Devi won by a margin of 16,741 votes.
In the Gopalganj constituency, BJP candidate Kusum Devi defeated RJD’s Mohan Prasad Gupta after witnessing a neck-and-neck fight. Kusum Devi vowed to carry forward the incomplete development work in the area.
The elections were the first face-off between the BJP and the Mahagathbandhan after Kumar took oath as the chief minister for the eighth time by joining hands with the JDU and the Congress. The elections also came ahead of the crucial general elections of 2024 – for which Kumar has been holding meetings with opposition leaders in attempts to unite them into a common front to take on the BJP.
