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By-poll results a boost to anti-Modi forces

RJD-JD(U)-Cong alliance wins six of 10 Assembly seats in Bihar

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Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar (right) arrives for a press conference at his residence in Patna after Bihar bypoll results on Monday
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Even as the major setbacks in the assembly bypolls in three states indicated that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is losing ground after the stupendous show in the Lok Sabha polls three months ago, the opposition Congress appeared cautious to celebrate. "I can only say, the assembly and parliamentary elections are fought on different issues and planks," said the Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed. He, however, was quick to point out that Modi factor is waning, as verdicts were coming against the BJP in by-polls from Karnakata (south) to Bihar (east), Madhya Pradesh (centre) to Uttarakhand (north).

On Monday, the party did not do well in bypolls in three states -- Bihar, Karnataka and Punjab. It could manage to hold on to its own only in the Madhya Pradesh bypolls. The BJP was decimated by the grand alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal United and the Congress in six seats out of 10 in Bihar. For celeberations, Congress is now awaiting the outcome of by-polls to be held next month in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In all, the NDA managed to grab eight seats out of the total 18 that went to polls in four states while 10 seats were won by the Congress and the RJD-JDU-Congress alliance.

The results have strengthened the clamour in the Congress to return to Shimla Sankalap of 2003 that calls for a grand secular alliance by tying up with like-minded parties to fight communal forces. The Sankalap was dumped by the new Congress leadership under its vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Jaipur brainstorming session, who banked on mobilising youth and middle class and to distance form allies tainted in corruption cases. Even, though the party had an alliance with Laloo Prasad Yadav's RJD in Lok Sabha polls, but it was Rahul's insistence to dump ordinance that sent Yadav out of political fray. Earlier in 1998 Panchmari session, Congress had resolved to go alone in elections and find lost ground. But that sent the party in political wilderness till 2004, when it overturned the Panchmari resolution in Shimla.

Shakeel Ahmed said it was early to suggest a grand secular alliance, but indicated that a view will be taken from state to state. "We will take a view on case to case and state to state basis. In Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, we fought alone and in Bihar we tied up with other parties," he said.

Sources here say that the anti-BJP alliance in Bihar may be expanding. JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar, the architect of the mahagatbandhan (grand alliance), reportedly met Left Front leaders last week. The JDU has vowed to form a bigger alliance of non-NDA parties before the Bihar Assembly polls in 2015.

In Bihar, six out of the 10 seats were won by the BJP in the 2010 Assembly elections. The bypolls to the 10 assembly constituencies -- Hajipur, Chapra, Mohiuddinagar, Parbatta, Bhagalpur, Rajnagar (SC), Jale, Mohania (SC), Narkatiaganj, Banka -- on August 21 were necessitated after representatives to five of them got elected to the Lok Sabha, while the rest fell vacant due to resignations. The voters turnout was around 47 per cent during the bypoll.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said, "Bihar bypolls results are not as we had expected it to be. As state leaders we take responsibility." He said the party will introspect and examine the reasons. In Karnataka, the BJP faced a huge setback in the Bellary seat which was taken away by the Congress. The Congress won two out of the three seats in Karnataka that went to polls.

The Congress wrested the prestigious Bellary Rural seat from the BJP. The seat was earlier held by MP B Sriramulu. The Congress candidate NY Gopalakrishna won the seat by nearly 34,000 votes. The Congress also retained the Chikkodi-Sadalaga assembly seat. Ganesh Hukkeri, the Congress candidate and son of local MP Prakash Hukkeri won the seat comfortably. In the prestigious Shikaripura assembly seat in Shimoga district, the BJP candidate BY Raghavendra, son of former Karnatak chief minister BS Yeddyurappe, won by a slender margin of just 4,000 votes.

The Congress was at par with the Shiromani Akali Dal in the Punjab where both the parties won one seat each. Congress leader Preneet Kaur won the Patiala seat while Akali Dal's Mohinder Singh Sidhu won the Talwandi Sabo seat. It was only in Madhya Pradesh where the BJP managed to win two seats out of three while the Congress was leading in the third one. From a Mumbai hospital, Lalu Yadav tweeted today, "I thank the people of Bihar for making the alliance win. Voters across the country have rectified the mistakes made in Lok Sabha elections."

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