The Grand Alliance on Sunday celebrated all across Bihar as its candidates forged ahead in the 243 seat assembly, stunning the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU) leaders claimed victory and said the JDU and its two allies, the RJD and Congress, will be forming the government.
Here is who said what:
Swapan Dasgupta, Political Commentator and Columnist: Bihar election results prove that the age of alliance politics is not yet over. There will always be a dominant party. But, an alliance is very important. The BJP has replaced the old Congress model at the national level. It may work very well at national level. In state elections, various factors matter. We can see that in Bihar. How is the BJP going to handle it later? In my opinion we are going to see recalibration of the style of governance. The BJP is not a big player in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu in the coming four state Assembly elections. But, the approach will surely change.
Rabri Devi, Former CM Bihar and RJD Leader: We are very happy. The people of Bihar have backed us fully. I congratulate Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar and the voters of Bihar. Our people have done a great job. We worked very hard. We used to rest only in the night. Lalu, Nitish and Congress have been strengthened. We will fulfil all promises made to the people by us. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi overestimated himself. He insulted us repeatedly calling us backward state, Jungle Raj etc. Now they will shut their mouth. The people have faith in us. We trust them. Initial trends showed BJP lead. It was all postal ballot. We knew from the beginning that we will win. We were not depressed. We conducted the election in a very good way.
Sharad Yadav, JDU National President: I was expecting 150-160 seats for the Grand Alliance. The Money bag of the BJP also played a major role in Bihar. The entire government of India was there.
The issues like Cow, beef, reservation etc were raised by the BJP to polarise the votes in Bihar. I feel that these factors made a huge impact. The weaker sections across India opposed RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat’s comments on reservations. The media did not show that. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s progress agenda worked. The voters have reposed faith in his leadership. There is a huge social disparity in Bihar. We will address that issue.
It is a defeat for Modi – Shah combine. Modi was leading the campaign. Amit Shah was camping there. It is their own defeat. People have rejected them. The BJP chief ministers were also camping there. It is not an individual victory. It is the victory of Grand Alliance.
Sudhanshu Trivedi, BJP Spokesperson: We have lost Bihar elections. But, I don’t agree that it has diminished the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stature. He is still the tallest and the most powerful BJP leader in India. We did not communalise or polarise the voters. Lalu Prasad Yadav did that. We did not raise the issue of beef. Lalu did that.
RPN Singh, Congress Leader and Former Union Minister: The views expressed by Rahul Gandhi on secularism has resonated in Bihar. This results is a befitting reply to the brand of politics being played by the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Manoj Tiwari, BJP Leader: If BJP loses an election, we need to look into the reasons. We have been winning elections so it is not right to blame any one particluar person. We did everything to convince the people of Bihar about what we can offer them, all that we can hope for is that Nitish Kumar works for the betterment of Bihar.
P Chidambaram, Senior Congress Leader: No party has to give up its individuality. It is upto the party to fight alone or as an alliance. Congress was a junior partner in this election. In another state, we will be the major player and we might go alone there.
It is the government that is making things difficult for itself. It is upto the PM to correct the course. I can't speculate on Third Front and whether Nitish will lead it, right now he has got a mandate to rule Bihar for 5 more years. Non-BJP parties can now believe that they can fight against the brand of politics that BJP practices.
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