BJP Had Benefited From Nitish Kumar's Popularity in 2005: JD(U)

Patna: A senior JD(U) leader today claimed that the BJP sustained a "body blow" at the just-concluded Bihar Assembly election by having its strength reduced to half as it did not have the company of Mr Nitish Kumar this time "to do a rescue act".

Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, a close aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said contrary to BJP's claim of having made a "sacrifice" by installing Mr Kumar as chief minister in 2005, the saffron party had made him the Chief Minister then in recognition of "his popularity and credibility on which it rode" on to bag 91 seats in 2010 Assembly polls.

"It is high time that BJP acknowledges the fact that its support base and MLAs in Bihar had grown due to association with Nitish Kumar as not even the Prime Minister's so called charismatic personality could prevent its disastrous performance this time," Mr Chaudhary said.

All top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made it a poll issue this time that the saffron party had "made a sacrifice" by making Mr Kumar the Bihar Chief Minister in 2005, but never admitted it even once that it had done so because of the senior JD(U) leader's popularity and credibility with the masses, Mr Chaudhary said in a statement.

JD(U), he said, had consistently countered the BJP's claim by reminding it that it had won an unprecedented 91 seats in 2010 Assembly polls on the basis of Mr Kumar's popularity and credibility with the masses, but the saffron party leaders "refused to listen" to the counterpoint.

The outcome of the recent Assembly polls has put at rest all doubts about the Chief Minister's ability as he led a new coalition to a landslide mandate with 178 seats as against 53 seats won by the BJP on its own, Mr Chaudhary, a former Bihar unit JD(U) president, said.