Patna, Nov 2 (IANS): JDU candidate Aman Hajari defeated RJD's Ganesh Bharti with a margin of 12,698 votes in Kusheshwar Asthan assembly constituency bypoll.

JDU office in Patna went in jubilation after the declaration of the result. Hajari secured 59,882 votes while his rival Ganesh Bharti managed to get only 47,148 votes. Anju Devi of the LJP (Ram Vilas) obtained 5,623 votes while Congress candidate Atirek Kumar could secure only 5,602 votes.

Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder son of Lalu Prasad, blamed senior party leaders including RJD state president Jagadanad Singh, RJD vice president Shivanand Tiwari, senior RJD leader Sunil Singh and others for the defeat.

"These leaders have projected Tejashwi Yadav as the leader of the party. They did not take every one on board. They took my ailing father to the election campaign. If we have to fight, we have to fight it together. The party leaders did not take every leader with them," Tej Pratap said.

"We were in coalition with the Congress party for a long time. My father always talks to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He spoke to her during this by-election as well. We have always taken Congress party alongside us in Bihar," Tej Pratap said.

"Leaders like Jagadanand Singh, Sunil Singh, Sanjay Singh are responsible for the defeat. People like Shivanand Tiwari come to our party to defeat us. Due to their failure, my younger brother lost the election. I can understand what kind of pain he is undergoing at the moment," Tej Pratap said.