25 November,2010 08:24 AM IST | | Bipin Kumar Singh and Amit Kumar
The results in Bihar elections come as no surprise, except that they reduced the vigorous canvassing by the country's Grand Old Party to nothing.
The mandate, out yesterday, outdid the exit poll predictions and the NDA's own expectations, giving a second opportunity to the Nitish Kumar-led alliance to soar on its development plank, and celebrate its triumph.
Nitish Kumar, flashes the victory sign during a press conference at his residence in Patna after trouncing his rivals
But a question looming before half the alliance the BJP is how to draw up the invitation list to the celebration so it offends neither Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, nor Nitish. MiD DAY brings you the different aspects of the result.
BJP's Modi conundrum
BJP, which romped home with the results, is confused about inviting the Gujarat CM for the swearing in ceremony.
Modi has remained Nitish's bete noire and the party had decided not to invite him in the Bihar assembly campaign.
Modi's presence in Bihar a few months ago created a lot of controversy in which Nitish intervened and said all he could to disassociate himself from and alienate Modi.
Nonetheless, Modi was the first BJP leader to tweet about the victory.
He also addressed the media, congratulating the BJP and the JD (U) over their triumph, indirectly expressing, what analysts say, a willingness to attend the swearing in ceremony.
But for the BJP, things are not so simple. It cannot dare to exclude Modi from the swearing-in ceremony, obviously. But at the same time, it cannot risk embarrassing raising Nitish's hackles, or even brows, as he is the main driver of the alliance's landslide victory.
Asked about this bit of a fix, the BJP dodged the question altogether. "You are trying to divert the issue from victory to controversy. Modi is a very senior leader and we respect him. But this is the time to celebrate the victory.
The necessary decision will be taken by the party," said Shah Nawaz Hussain, a BJP spokesperson.
From the time that Bihar elections were announced, the scion had worked to strengthen the withering roots of the party, but Rahul Gandhi's magic failed to work his charm. For a party that has ruled Bihar for more than four decades, the Congress has been pulverised.
Rahul's charms fail
His charisma seemed to be working initially with large turnouts for his election rallies. Rahul, who addressed 17 rallies all over Bihar, failed to get a single victory in favour of any of the candidates.
Rahul said, "As far as our party is concerned, we did not have much hope. We took a deliberate decision not to forge an alliance with other parties."
His mother Sonia Gandhi who addressed five rallies managed to credit merely a single victory. The party managed to win four seats compared to nine, which it held last year.
Even the Congress president of Bihar, Chaudhuri Mehboob Ali Kaiser, lost by a huge margin.
Now the question before the ones who lost is who will be the opposition leader. Lalu Yadav, who is an MP, cannot be chosen to lead the party in the assembly. So is the case with Paswan.
This will also be the first time in two decades when members from the families of both Yadav as well as Paswan will have to be content watching Bihar assembly proceedings on TV.
No party from the runners-up has even managed to win 10 per cent of the total 243 seats.
It is also a fact that both the leaders responsible for the sweeping victory of the NDA, namely CM Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Sushil Modi, are not even elected representatives, but members of the legislative council. They will get to lead the state a second time.u00a0
End of Lalu-Paswan Raj
There will be no representation from the family for Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan in the new assembly. This could be happening for the first time. Lalu's wife, who contested from two constituencies, lost both.
Her controversial brothers Sadhu Yadav and Subhash Yadav, contested from other parties and lost. Paswan's brothers, Pashupathinath Paras and Ram Chander Paswan, also lost the election.
