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Another bypoll jolt for Narendra Modi-led BJP as Opposition wins 10 seats

ET Bureau Aug 26, 2014, 07.10AM IST
(Expressing happiness over…)

NEW DELHI: The BJP-led Union government that's completing three months in power was jolted on Monday as the Opposition Congress and its allies bagged 10 out of the 18 seats in assembly by-elections held in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka.

The keenly-watched competition in Bihar saw the unlikely alliance of former rivals Lalu Prasad's RJD and Nitish Kumar's JD(U) along with Congress netting 6 of 10 seats. Buoyed by the victory, Kumar said the voters have expressed their "displeasure" with the Narendra Modi government and suggested that the alliance would be broadened to include Left parties to check BJP's "communal agenda".

All the 10 assembly constituencies had voted overwhelmingly for BJP candidates in the recent general elections in which BJP had bagged 31 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats. The by-election setback for BJP comes exactly a month after it lost all three seats in Uttarakhand assembly bypolls to Congress despite bagging all five Lok Sabha seats in the state earlier. The attention now shifts to UP and Gujarat where bypolls are scheduled to be held on September 13. A tepid performance in those crucial states will hurt BJP and the government's image although it won't have any impact on its stability.

In Punjab, Congress' Preneet Kaur won the Patiala seat while NDA's Shiromani Akali Dal wrested the Talwandi Sabo seat. The segment had gone in BJP's favour in the Lok Sabha polls. In Karnataka, Congress won two out of the three seats, including BJP stronghold of Bellary, while in Madhya Pradesh, the party wrested the Bahoriband assembly seat from the ruling BJP, which retained the Agar and Vijayraghavgarh seats.

Expressing happiness over results of the by-elections, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh said that the day was "auspicious" for UPA.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai, expressed happiness over the secular alliance winning six out of the 10 seats in Bihar. "This alliance has now the stamp of people's acceptance. That's why they have voted for us... Our government is not run by capitalists but by the poor. Our garibraj looks like jungleraj to them."

Bihar RJD president Ramchandra Purbey quoting Prasad added the alliance "will continue in the coming assembly polls". Joining celebration at the RJD state headquarters, Purbey said, "Our alliance experiment has been successful as voters have recognised the real character of BJP. They have realised that BJP is not a political party but one which spreads religious hysteria and communalism in its efforts to grab power."

Accepting the verdict, BJP leader and former state deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said the party would review and make amends in its efforts to win the assembly elections next year. "We accept the verdict," he said in a series of tweets. Modi, however, remained unfazed by strong performance put out by the rival alliance of RJD, JD(U) and Congress saying the score has evened out at 1-1 at the hustings between the two sides this year.

"We had won Lok Sabha polls, they (the secular alliance) have won the assembly by-polls... It is 1-1," he said.