Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, whose RJD on Sunday retained Mokama assembly seat but failed to wrest from the BJP Gopalganj constituency, losing it by a whisker, asserted that the outcome marked a success of their "experiment".
Yadav, the veritable face of a resurgent RJD, was making an indirect reference to Gopalganj candidate Mohan Gupta, a Vaishya by caste whose choice served as yet another instance of the traditionally "M-Y" (Muslim-Yadav) party seeking to push the envelope.
"The Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) had polled 40,000 votes less than the winning BJP candidate in the 2020 assembly polls. This time, despite the sympathy factor, we reduced the margin to less than 2,000 votes. Come 2024 Lok Sabha polls and we shall have a lead of 20,000 in the assembly segment," Yadav said.
The bypoll to Gopalganj, falling in the eponymous district to which Yadav belongs, was necessitated by the death of four-term BJP MLA Subhash Singh whose wife Kusum Devi retained the seat for the saffron party.
"The people of Gopalganj have called the bluff of BJP which used to claim that certain segments of the society happened to be its loyal voters," Yadav said.
The deputy CM, however, did not try to put any blame on maternal aunt Indira Yadav who fought on a BSP ticket and nibbled at nearly 9,000 votes.
Nor did he say any harsh things about Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM which polled more than 12,000 votes, emerging as the biggest "spoiler".
"I thank people belonging to all castes and religions for reposing their trust in us," said the young RJD leader, who faces another test of his political mettle shortly in a by-election necessitated by the disqualification of Anil Sahani, the party MLA from Kurhani.
The state unit of the Congress, which is wary of the "Owaisi factor" in the high-stakes battle for Gujarat, however, lashed out at the Hyderabad MP, accusing him of "helping BJP" in Gopalganj.
"Fie upon you Asaduddin Owaisi ji for helping the BJP in Gopalganj by-poll," tweeted Bihar Congress spokesperson Asit Tiwari.
Meanwhile, the AIMIM, which had won five seats in the last assembly seats and all but one of its MLAs joined the RJD earlier, declared that it intended to queer the pitch in Kurhani as well.
"We will definitely contest Kurhani. After all, we are not running a general store," said Akhtarul Iman, state president of AIMIM who is now also the party's lone MLA in Bihar.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)