Bihar Vidhan Sabha 2020 Election Results: “We welcome the decision of the people,” said KC Tyagi.
New Delhi:
While the votes were being counted in Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s party admitted defeat at first, as the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was behind the opposition alliance led by Tejashwi Yadav.
“We welcome the people’s decision. We were not defeated by RJD or Tejashwi Yadav, but by the curse of the nation (Covid),” Janata Dal United spokesperson KC Tyagi told NDTV.
“We are behind only because of Covid. We are paying for the last 70 years of deterioration in Bihar,” said senior leader of Janata Dal United.
The tracks showed the BJP well ahead of Nitish Kumar, and the JDU seemed to drag the overall NDA tally.
However, it was a close battle for the rival coalitions.
Nitish Kumar has faced a difficult season in his bid for a fourth consecutive term.
The five-time Chief Minister was seen to face public anger over the jobs, his handling of the coronavirus, and the migrant and flood crisis.
Tyagi noted that in last year’s national elections, the NDA led by Nitish Kumar had swept all 40 seats, while Tejashwi Yadav’s alliance was a success.
“Last year, there was no great heroic thing, no massive achievement that RJD achieved. So the only thing that brought us down was nature,” he said.
Chirag Paswan, an ally of the NDA who broke away just before the election and ran candidates against the JDU, may end up doing the most damage to Nitish Kumar, while the BJP seemed to be doing much better.
Chirag Paswan continued to attack Nitish Kumar while declaring his allegiance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and repeatedly spoke about forming a government with the BJP without the JDU. He was even heard at rallies asking for votes for Prime Minister Modi or for his own Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).
The BJP leadership in Delhi refused to denounce Chirag Paswan or even distance the party from him, reinforcing the view that it was maintaining a Plan B without Nitish Kumar.
“It should have been publicly criticized,” Tyagi said, declining to name the BJP or specify.
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