Modi wave sweeps aside Lalu, Nitish in Bihar

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Press Trust of India Patna
Last Updated : May 17 2014 | 12:04 AM IST
The Narendra Modi wave swept aside Bihar strongmen Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar as BJP, along with its allies, today won 26 out of 40 seats in Bihar.
BJP took a sweet revenge against JD(U) of Nitish Kumar, which had broken away from the alliance with the saffron party, to win 19 seats on its own.
Its new allies LJP of Ramvilas Paswan and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party of Upendra Kushwaha, a friend-turned foe of Nitish Kumar, rode piggyback on BJP.
BJP and its allies were leading in five seats results of which were awaited.
Besides winning his own Hajipur and son Chirag Paswan's Jamui reserved seats, LJP won four out of the seven seats it contested in alliance with BJP. It is leading in Samastipur and Vaishali seats where results are awaited.
RLSP won all the three seats it contested.
Ruling JD(U), which had won the lion's share of 20 out of a total of 40 seats in the state in 2009, managed to win only two seats of Purnea and Nalanda.
Its President Sharad Yadav was humbled at Madhepura in the hands of RJD Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav.
RJD, though won four seats and helped its ally Congress two seats, was also routed by a strong Modi wave.
RJD President Lalu Prasad could not even ensure victory of wife Rabri Devi at Saran and daughter Misa Bharti at Patliputra seat.
Prasad's long-time aide Ramkripal Yadav, who rebelled over denial of ticket, humbled Misa Bharti at Patliputra seat by over 40,000 votes.
His close associate and former union minister Raghubansh Prasad Singh also suffered defeat at Vaishali seat at the hands of LJP's Rama Singh.
The BJP boom helped actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha tide over anti-incumbency and peoples ire which was reflected in a section of people showing him black flags during campaign. Sinha retained his Patna Sahib seat by an impressive 2,65,805 votes defeating his nearest Congress rival and Bhojpuri actor Kunal Singh.
But BJP's Muslim poster boy Shahnawaz Hussain was not lucky. He lost to his RJD rival Shailesh Kumar alias Bulo Mandal by a slender margin on 9485 votes at Bhagalpur seat.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a terse statement said he respected the people's verdict.
Buoyant BJP senior leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi asked Kumar to resign on moral grounds taking a cue from his Assam counterpart Tarun Gogoi.
Nitish Kumar even failed to perform better in the bypoll in five assembly seats which took place along with Lok Sabha poll.
JD (U) won only Kochadhaman assembly seat. RJD won three seats of Baisi, Sahebpur Kamal and Chiria. BJP won Maharajganj Assembly seat.
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First Published: May 17 2014 | 12:04 AM IST

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