In Nitish Kumar's big loss, veiled victory for BJP

Maharajganj: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has lost a major point of prestige to rival and Opposition leader Lalu Prasad. 

Mr Kumar's party, the Janata Dal (United), has lost the by-election for the Lok Sabha seat of Maharajganj in the western part of the state. Mr Prasad's party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), has retained the seat, with its candidate winning by a convincing margin of 1.37 lakh votes.

The seat had fallen vacant after the death of Umashankar Singh, who belonged to the RJD. So though this has been a constituency loyal to Mr Prasad, this is the first time in seven years that the RJD has defeated Mr Kumar's party in a by-election.

Mr Prasad had positioned the contest as "the semi-final" before next year's national election.

PK Shahi, Bihar's Education Minister and the candidate from Mr Kumar's JD(U), had earlier blamed ally BJP while he was trailing, an accusation that the BJP will take as a back-handed compliment that signals its importance in a partnership that has been publicly creaking over the last few months.

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The collaboration between Mr Kumar and the BJP has given the alliance two successive terms in power; but both sides have suggested that in the national election, they may contest the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats on their own to indicate that they will not falter from ending the relationship if it's in their best interest.

The cause for the friction is the BJP's increasing promotion of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its tallest leader. Mr Kumar has made it clear that he will end his ties with the BJP if it picks Mr Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. His party, the JD(U), has said that the Gujarat riots of 2002, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed on Mr Modi's watch, demonstrate that Mr Modi "lacks secular credentials."

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Muslims make up 15% of Bihar's population, and their support is essential for Mr Kumar.