BJP Deals Blow to Nitish-Lalu in Legislative Council Elections Months Ahead of Bihar Polls

Patna: Months before assembly elections are held in Bihar, challenger BJP has bested the Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav combine in elections to 24 seats in the Bihar Legislative Council, by winning 13 seats along with allies.

The Nitish-Lalu-Congress alliance won 10. The outcome of elections to Begusarai seat is yet to be
announced.

As the BJP celebrated, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, "This was not an election where the common people vote. It was a council election. If the BJP wants to be so happy about it, let them be. They anyway like to live in this fantasy world."

"This is not a semi-final to the assembly elections," said a spokesperson of his Janata Dal United.

An election is an election, said a jubilant BJP. "It's a very positive sign and points to the fact that the NDA will get a majority in the coming state elections. Bihar is tired of Nitish Kumar's leadership and desperately needs a change," said Rajiv Pratap Rudy, union minister and lawmaker from Bihar.

Elected members of the assembly and local bodies like panchayats vote in the legislative council elections.

The JDU, which has won five of the alliance's 10 seats, reportedly assesses that Lalu Yadav, who has won four, has not been successful in transferring his votes to the alliance. That will be nagging worry as the assembly elections approach.

Nitish and Lalu were bitter rivals for many years and their partnership is predicated on pooling votes to stop the BJP from coming to power in the state.

For years the BJP was the JDU's junior partner. After they parted ways, the BJP and its allies had won 32 of Bihar's 40 seats in last year's national election.

Some months later, Nitish and Lalu tested a new alliance in assembly by-elections to 10 seats and won six. But the partnership hasn't been an easy one and almost came apart last month over projecting Nitish Kumar for chief minister.

The Congress has helped staple it together for now.