Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, December 10
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has come under opposition and ally fire following the defeat of JDU candidate Manoj Kushwaha in the by-election held in the Kurhani assembly constituency.
The candidate of the ruling party was trounced by the BJP nominee, Kedar Prasad Gupta on Thursday.
Former Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday suggested Nitish to hand over his chair to Tejashwi and move to Shivanand Ashram at Haridwar.
“People of Bihar have hatred for Nitish, who lost trust among the voters. He should own up the responsibility for defeat of his party candidate and quit politics,” Sushil Modi said.
He claimed the national president of JDU, Lallan Singh who had campaigned at Kurhani ,failed in getting votes of his caste Bhumihars.
Anil Sahni, former MLA from Kurhani, who was a claimant for the seat, also demanded Nitish resignation and making Tejashwi Chief Minister.
Sahni who had won by 712 votes in 202O defeating BJP’s Kedar Prasad Gupta said, “Nitish Kumar failed in even influencing the voters of extremely backward castes.”
Chairman of the central parliamentary board Upendra Kushwaha, attacked policies of Nitish Kumar, particularly liquor ban, and said, “public can not be asked to follow us, but we have to walk according to the public.”
Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who returned from Singapore, regretted JDU candidate lost elections with a narrow margin. Last month, RJD had won in by-election at Mokama.
The two note worthy comments by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President, J P Nadda on Bihar by-election result has led to jubilation among the BJP leaders here.
Modi said people of Bihar also wanted a change. Nadda said people of Bihar had turned against Nitish Kumar. They prefer Modi over Nitish, he added.
Kurhani was the first election after Nitish Kumar snapped ties with BJP to share power with RJD in August. RJD surrendered it’s seat to JDU supported by other alliance partners, including Congress, three left parties and HAM(S).