Former RJD MLA from Kurhani, Anil Kumar Sahni, whose conviction in a fraud case had necessitated the bypoll in the assembly seat in Bihar that was won by BJP on Thursday, has demanded that chief minister Nitish Kumar resign on moral grounds and hand over the reins of the state to his deputy Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.
“It isn’t a defeat of the ruling mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance). It’s defeat of CM Nitish Kumar whose party JD-U chose a non-EBC candidate for a seat populated by people from EBCs (extremely backward classes). The vote we got was due to Tejashwi Yadav,” Sahni said on Friday, adding that EBCs were angry with Kumar.
The ruling alliance had fielded Manoj Kushwaha Singh of the JD-U (Janata Dal-United), who polled 73,073 votes, against the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, who got 76,722 votes.
“People of Kurhani have taught him a lesson. If there is any morality left in Nitish Kumar, he should resign and hand over the chief ministership to Tejashwi Yadav,” the former MLA said.
He alleged that the seat, which belonged to RJD, was taken away by ally JD-U “under a conspiracy.”
RJD’s state unit president Jagdanand Singh, however, downplayed the demand for CM’s resignation but conceded there was a “lack of co-ordination between JD-U and RJD”.
“These are initial days of alliance and proper co-ordination is required,” he said.
Former JD-U state unit president and Rajya Sabha MP Bashistha Narain Singh, a close aide of CM Kumar, said party would introspect over reasons for the defeat.
Kurhani constituency has around 43,000 voters from the scheduled caste community, which is said to be alienated after the crackdown as part of the liquor prohibition drive on Pasi community members, who are traditionally toddy tappers.
“Nitish Kumar’s core voters are mostly from backward castes and most of them have chosen BJP,” said former deputy CM Sushil Modi of BJP, currently a Rajya Sabha member.
“After the defeat in Gopalganj and now in Kurhani assembly bypoll, Nitish Kumar should resign. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, his party was reduced to two seats in Bihar and he had to resign. Now people want change. Kumar should understand that,” he said.
Kurhani bypoll was the first direct electoral battle between former allies JD-U and BJP since their split in August this year.
