Nitish to be CM, Lalu to launch nation-wide stir against Modi
Updated
Final tally
Total seats: 243
BJP and allies - 58
BJP - 53
HAM - 1
LJP - 2
RLSP - 2
Grand Alliance - 178
JD(U) - 71
RJD - 80
Cong - 27
Others - 7
Patna, Nov 8 (PTI): RJD chief Lalu Prasad today delcared Nitish Kumar will continue as Bihar Chief Minister despite his party emerging as the table topper, while he will launch a nation-wide stir against the "communal" Narendra Modi government.
Exultant after the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance appeared on course to a resounding victory, a jubilant Prasad claimed continuance of the Modi government will "break the nation into pieces".
Accompanied by a smiling Kumar, his foe-turned-ally, Prasad said, "We will continue with our fight. There will be such a long-term impact of Bihar results on the national politics that you cannot imagine. The Modi government, the RSS government will be demolished. I will also go to Varanasi (Modi's constituency) with lantern (RJD's election symbol)".
Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad spoke of plans for forging a strong national alternative as an "effective opposition" to the BJP.
Addressing a press conference after emerging victorious in the Assembly elections, Chief Minister Kumar said efforts to polarise the society have been rejected in the "milestone" Bihar elections and its results have reflected the mood of the nation that they wanted a strong alternative at the national level.
Suggesting coming together of non-BJP forces at the Centre to provide a strong opposition, Kumar said Bihar polls had a national context and it was now imperative that they work together to provide a strong alternative.
"Bihar poll outcome will have national implications as it had attracted nation-wide attention. The results have made it clear that people want a robust opposition and strong alternative at the national level.
"A very aggressive campaign was run (by BJP) and attempts were made to create a certain situation. People have rejected it, rejected attempts to polarise and expressed their view. This is a huge mandate and we expect it with all the humility," he said.
The JD(U) leader also noted that despite an aggressive campaign by the BJP-led NDA and its attempts at polarising the electorate, the massive mandate showed that people across communities had certain expectations and he would try his best to fulfil them.
However, he also insisted that he will not hold grudges against anybody despite the bitter campaign and will work together with all keeping a positive mindset as he sought the Centre's cooperation for the progress of Bihar.
Such a big victory would not have been possible without the support from all sections of society, including women, Dalits and minorities, he said.
Even as RJD emerged as the single largest party, Prasad said it was a victory of the grand alliance and not of one party.
"If anyone wants to sow the seeds of division among us, we won't let that happen. We are not going to be divided for the next ten lives," he said in his inimitable style amid loud cheers from workers and supporters.
On his nation-wide stir, Prasad said he will take together farmers, labourers and the deprived sections "to uproot the communal Modi government". "They have been chased out of Bihar."
The grand alliance government will work for the fast development of Bihar and put it on the national map in economic progress, he said.
Earlier Update
Battle for Bihar - Grand Alliance stuns BJP, heads to victory in late surge
Patna, Nov 8 (IANS): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Grand Alliance scored a stunning win on Sunday in the assembly elections, dealing a major blow to the BJP and sparking opposition attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who led his party's challenge in the bitterly contested battle.
A sombre Modi telephoned Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar and congratulated him as the Grand Alliance - which also includes the RJD of Lalu Prasad and the Congress - was poised to win 161 of the 243 seats, leaving the BJP-led four-party combine with just 74 seats. Smaller parties including the BSP and the CPI-ML were set to win eight seats.
The Grand Alliance was just one short of a two-third majority to give Nitish Kumar his third straight victory in Bihar.
The JD-U, the RJD and the Congress grabbed over 41 percent of all the votes in the five-phased ections that began on October 12 and concluded on November 5. The BJP alliance got 38 percent.
The Shiv Sena, the BJP's junior ally in Maharashtra, joined Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi and Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal as well as former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah in hailing the Grand Alliance win and taking a dig at Modi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was confident of ousting Nitish Kumar, admitted its calculations had gone wrong in one of the toughest state elections in recent times.
"This is not an outcome we expected," BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said. "The Grand Alliance has done much better than what we thought. This defeat calls for serious thinking. We need time to analyse."
Union minister Prakash Javadekar sought to blame the BJP's allies. "The BJP lost only because of alliance arithmetic." BJP vice president Prabhat Jha added: "We failed to understand people's mind. We will have to change our election strategy."
Compared to the number of assembly segments it led in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP lost every second seat.
JD-U's Pavan Verma said: "It is a defeat for Modi and (BJP president) Amit Shah."
MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, whose party contested from six constituencies and lost everywhere, also said: "It is a personal defeat for Modi as never before has a prime minister campaigned so much in a (state) election."
In contrast to claims that it would form the government in Bihar, the BJP ended up being the third largest party in the Bihar house. And though both the JD-U and RJD contested 101 seats each, it was the RJD that emerged the single largest party with 77 seats followed by JD-U's 66.
But Lalu Prasad has declared that Nitish Kumar would be the chief minister irrespective of whether his party wins more or less seats than the JD-U.
The Congress was set to grab 15 seats, followed by BJP allies Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) with five, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) three and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) also with three seats.
As the vote count began at 8 a.m. across Bihar on Sunday, initially it appeared that the BJP and its allies were forging ahead. But the picture changed soon as the Grand Alliance clawed back strongly.
Thousands of jubilant JD-U, RJD and Congress activists celebrated in Patna. Party leaders and workers consumed and distributed sweets, burst firecrackers, smeared ‘holi' colour on one another and danced to drums.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the BJP's defeat was a "victory of tolerance, defeat of intolerance". Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal congratulated Nitish Kumar on "this historic victory". Both Banerjee and Kejriwal came out in support of Nitish Kumar during the election.
The Shiv Sena said the BJP must accept that the Bihar defeat was Modi's doing. It hailed Nitish Kumar as "a political hero" and said the outcome "will be a turning point in the country's political future".
Omar Abdullah too said in a tweet to Nitish Kumar: "Your victory will prove critical for the nation in the days ahead."
BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, who had been taking potshots at the BJP leaders for sidelining him, also fired a salvo.
The veteran Bollywood actor tweeted: "It is a victory of democracy and the people of Bihar. I salute them... The writing was always on the wall... Salute once again to Biharis."
It is the BJP's second straight defeat in state elections since the Aam Aadmi Party routed it in Delhi in February.
BJP leaders were hopeful of turning the tide in Bihar, to prove that the Delhi defeat was a fluke. It didn't happen that way.
Asked how the Grand Alliance beat back the aggressive campaigning by Modi and Amit Shah's micro-management of the election, JD-U leader Nawal Sharma told IANS: "Nitish's glittering face and Lalu's strong base got us these numbers. All the polarising (bids) of BJP -- Dadri, Pakistan, cow, beef -- have hit them hard."
Modi congratulates Nitish Kumar
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday telephoned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and congratulated him on the victory of his Grand Alliance in the assembly elections.
Modi tweeted that he had "a telephonic conversation with Nitish. Congratulated him on the victory".
Moments earlier, Nitish Kumar tweeted: "Just received a phone call from PM congratulating me."
BJP cancels order placed for sweets, firecrackers
A despondent BJP on Sunday cancelled an order placed for laddoos and firecrackers after trends showed the Grand Alliance was set to form the government in Bihar while their party was a distant second.
A BJP official said the orders for laddoos and firecrackers were placed early in the morning after initial trends showed they were surging ahead.
However, the order was cancelled after the later trends showed the party was slipping.
Most of the flags and firecracker remained unsold at the stall outside the BJP office here.
Raushan Shah, a shopkeeper, said: "I had brought these firecrackers and BJP flags worth Rs.10,000, but now after they are defeated nobody is buying them."
"I wish I had brought JD-U or RJD flags like my younger brother. I am now moving to the JDU office to sell my firecrackers," said Raushan, 16.
BJP will take corrective measures: Madhav on Bihar poll result
New Delhi, Nov 8 (PTI):BJP leader Ram Madhav today dismissed suggestions that the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on the wane in view of Bihar poll verdict but said the party will take corrective measures.
"We try to learn from every election. Give us some time. We will take corrective measures," he said as it became clear that the NDA was facing defeat in the high-stakes polls.
Rejecting the view that the appeal of Modi, who led the BJP campaign, was on the wane, he said the Prime Minister remained their "strongest" factor and the party was right in using its strongest factor to the most.
Asked if BJP was conceding defeat, he said, "Whatever is the mandate will be accepted" but added the counting was still in progress.
He said what led to the NDA's loss will have to analysed after they received all figures, adding that not one factor leads to victory or loss in elections.
Madhav said there were efforts to use every issue to influence the Bihar poll outcome and suggested that the return of awards by artists and intellectuals over "climate of intolerance" was one of them.