Even Modi could not have done much for me: Shahi

JD(U)leader P K Shahi, whose massive defeat in Maharajganj bypoll has put Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a tight spot and emboldened RJD chief Lalu Prasad to ask him to quit, today said even a campaign by Narendra Modi could not have done much for him.
"It was my defeat (in Maharajganj)," Shahi, who is state Education minister, told PTI on the sidelines of 'Janata ke Darbar mein Mukhya Mantri' programme.
"Modi was no issue in the Maharajganj bypoll," he said.
"Even a campaign by Modi could not have done much for me," Shahi, a close confidant of Nitish Kumar, said

Shahi, for whom Maharajganj bypoll was first venture into electoral politics, said he got only one month time for the elections and could not properly manage the poll.
"There was no polling agent for me in as many as 400 booths," he said.

Asked whether he would again contest election from same constituency, Shahi, who served as Advocate General in the Nitish Kumar's first term rule from 2005-2010, said it would be the party's decision.
The defeat of Shahi by a massive 1.37 lakh votes in the hands of RJD Prabhunath Singh had given a stick to RJD President Lalu Prasad to beat his rival Nitish Kumar saying actually it was defeat of the Bihar Chief Minister whose governance was rejected by voters.

With a section of BJP leaders asserting that one of the reasons for defeat was JD(U) criticism of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi which hurt the sentiment of voters.
BJP General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy a day after the Maharajganj bypoll had said that Narendra Modi was required for JD(U) as much as for BJP.