Nitish Kumar reacts to punishing message from voters

Patna: After losing an important election in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today that his party, "being humble," accepts the victory of Opposition leader Lalu Yadav, whose candidate won the Lok Sabha seat from Maharajganj by a huge margin.

The chief minister's critics - some within his own party - say that the result punishes his "political arrogance" especially in his under-valuation of his ally, the BJP, with whom he runs the government. For this by-election, Mr Kumar broke with tradition and did not phone BJP leaders to campaign for his candidate, indicating that he thinks they are dispensable.

The Chief Minister today pointed out that the constituency which rejected him has traditionally been loyal to his rival - the MP who died, necessitating the by-election, was from Lalu's party.

Mr Kumar also insisted today that the verdict in yesterday's election will not impact his alliance with the BJP, which has been a fractious one lately, with both sides running each other down. The skirmishing is centred on the BJP's increasing promotion of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its tallest leader; Mr Kumar's party has accused him of "lacking secular credentials" and has said it will break the alliance if Mr Modi is picked as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

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Jabs at Mr Modi by Mr Kumar and other leaders of the JD(U) have irked leaders of the BJP in Bihar, and they chose not to work in the interests of Mr Kumar's candidate in Maharajganj.

Though Mr Kumar has been celebrated for developing Bihar, yesterday's election reflects a growing voter resentment against corruption in the administration particularly in the public distribution system through which the poor access subsidized food and fuel.

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