Patna, (Asian independent) Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United managed to win both the seats where a bypoll was held last week.
While in Kusheshwar Asthan, it managed to win convincingly with a big margin votes against the RJD candidate, there was neck-and-neck fight between these two parties in Tarapur till the last round.
In Kusheshwar Asthan, JD-U’s Aman Bhushan Hajari defeated RJD’s Ganesh Bharti with a margin of 12,698 votes, but in Tarapur, the close contest went on till the second last round, before JD-U candidate Rajiv Kumar Singh defeated RJD’s Arun Shah by a small margin of 3,821 votes.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said: “We have nothing to lose in this election. We are the single largest party in Bihar Assembly with 75 seats. We had a close fight in Tarapur and the match went till second last over. The vote percentage also increased in these two seats.”
“In Kusheshwar Asthan, the JD-U candidate gained sympathy votes as his father was elected as MLA in 2020 Assembly election. Winning and losing is part of the election. The people of Bihar want change and our fight against the NDA will continue.”
“We have pointed out concerns before the constitutional institution (Election Commission). We also respect the institution. We have always pointed out issues with proof and it will continue,” he added.
JD-U state President Umesh Kushwaha said: “RJD chief said that he has a formula before the result of by-election to demolish Nitish Kumar government. I don’t understand what formula he has and what kind of formula or equation he has. The number is with us and after winning these two seats, we achieved more strength in the Bihar Assembly.”
“Lalu Yadav, through his claim to demolish the Nitish Kumar government is just fooling the voters. We believe that the voters knew everything. He wants to cheat the people of Bihar.”
BJP’s OBC wing General Secretary Nikhil Anand said: “The crown prince of RJD Tejashwi Yadav’s propaganda failed in this by-election. RJD threw seriously ill Lalu Prasad in this by-election but eventually lost. Congress leaders Kanhaiya Kumar, Hardik Patel, and Jignesh Mevani also tried to play the role of ‘Vote Katwa’ to help the RJD but they also failed.”
Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of Lalu Prasad, blamed senior leaders including RJD state President Jagadand Singh, RJD Vice President Shivanand Tiwari, senior RJD leader Sunil Singh and others for defeat.
“These leaders have projected Tejashwi Yadav as leader of the party. These leaders have not taken every leader to unite the party. These people had been taken by an ill father in the election campaign. If we have to fight any contest, we have to fight together. In this case, the party leaders did not take every leader with them,” he said.
“Shivanand Tiwar was having lunch with my father Lalu Prasad on Tuesday… People like him eat on our plate and defeat us. They come to our party to defeat us. Due to their acts, my younger brother lost the election. I can understand what kind of pain he is undergoing at the moment,” Tej Pratap said.
