Patna: The results of the bypolls of four assembly seats in Bihar could not have been worse for Tejashwi Yadav. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) not only lost two bastions of Belaganj and Ramgarh, but its ally the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) also met with the same results at its traditional stronghold of Tarari.
Tarari and Ramgarh went to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while its ally Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) retained Imamganj. The Janata Dal (United) then completed the rout by winning Belaganj. The rout took place with about less than one year left for the polls in Bihar.
The story of this bypolls in Bihar is not the victory of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates, but that of the defeat of the Mahagathbandhan, especially the RJD’s.
“It appears that the RJD is heading the path of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh—from a politically vibrant outfit to a marginal player,” former MLC Prem Kumar Mani, once a close aide to CM Nitish Kumar, told ThePrint.
He hinted that if the trend continues in the next year, it would be an uphill task for Tejashwi to repeat his 2020 performance when he guided the RJD to 75 seats that year.
The adverse results also means that the RJD lost an opportunity to retain the status of the single largest party in the Bihar Assembly. Until 18 July, according to the Bihar Assembly records, the BJP had 78 MLAs whereas the RJD had 77.
On Sunday, JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar took a swipe at Tejashwi, saying that the Leader of the Opposition might skip the winter session of the assembly after the damning results. A fresh session of the legislature is scheduled. If Tejashwi Yadav chooses to remain absent, then after ‘salary ghotala’ (salary scam), he shall be accused of ‘kartavya ghotala’ (read, skipping duty),” Kumar said.
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Chastening loss
“Loss in a few seats is no big deal. We had gained leads in these assembly segments in the recent Lok Sabha elections. We will do better in the 2025 assembly elections and the Mahagathbandhan will form the next government in Bihar. Winning and losing is a part of elections…we are not disappointed at all…we fought the elections unitedly,” Tejashwi told reporters after the results were out on Saturday.
But beyond those words, what will surely rankle Tejashwi is the twin loss of party bastions Belaganj and Ramgarh.
Held by RJD strongman Surendra Prasad Yadav for the last 34 years, Belaganj went to bypolls as he went on to win from the Jehanabad Lok Sabha constituency this year.
The party reposed faith on his son Vishwanath, who was pitted against JD(U)’s Manorma Devi and Jan Suraaj Party’s Mohd Amajad among others.
Devi, a former MLC, won by over 21,000 votes as she got 73,334 votes while Vishwanath had 51,943 votes. “We will have to look into the reasons for the defeat but I will return for the assembly polls,” Vishwanath told ThePrint.
If the RJD insiders are to be believed, the party’s core voters, the Yadavs and the Muslims deserted the party, “A substantial number of Muslims voted for Jan Suraaj candidate Md Amajad and a good chunk of votes went to Manorma Devi, who is also a Yadav,” a RJD leader told ThePrint.
The defeat happened despite an ailing Lalu Prasad addressing voters with the message of Hindu-Muslim unity to back Vishwanath. Apart from the RJD patriarch, Tejashwi had also campaigned for the RJD candidate and deployed Hina Shahab, the widow of strongman Mohd Shahabuddin, for the bypolls.
As for Ramgarh, it is considered to be the family seat of RJD’s former state unit president Jagnanad Singh. His son Sudhakar Singh had won this seat in 2020. With Sudhakar elevated as the Buxar MP, his younger brother Ajit Singh was the RJD candidate this time.
But, Ajit Singh came third, with the margin between him and the winner, BJP’s Ashok Kumar Singh, being 26,000-plus votes. Ashok Kumar won by a slim margin of 1,362 votes over his BSP rival. The top three candidates got 62,257, 60,895 and 35,825 votes, respectively.
Ajit and his followers left the counting hall even before the counting ended, conceding defeat. “The Yadavs completely deserted us and gave their vote to the BSP candidate (Satish Kumar Singh Yadav),” the above-mentioned RJD leader said.
While Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s daughter-in-law Deepa Manjhi was able to retain Imamganj, where the RJD candidate came second, the CPI(ML) failed to get the Kushwaha vote it had during the Lok Sabha polls in Tarari.
The Kushwahs, the second largest chunk among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) after the Yadavs in Bihar, had voted in favour of the opposition INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha polls. But, the OBC group seemingly did not follow this pattern this time of voting.’
More demands from allies?
Tejashwi remains the crowd puller for the Mahagathbandhan, with the Leader of the Opposition campaigning intensively In the run-up to the bypolls.
“But he remains a part-time politician. After polls, he remains elusive, never meeting either his voters or even his MLAs. After the Lok Sabha polls, he spends his time either in Delhi or abroad,” a RJD MLA told ThePrint, pointing out that Tejashwi’s politics is limited to statements given outside his home or through social media.
His claims that he is responsible for more government jobs in Bihar did not appear to have the desired effect, the RJD MLA added.
Congress MLA Shakeel Ahmad did not take names but stressed that the Mahagathbandhan needs to review the bypoll results and find out why people did not vote for them. “Everybody needs to come out of the comfort zone they have built for themselves and meet the people at the grassroots,” he asserted
The RJD, however, pointed out that the bypoll results do not affect the assembly polls. “During the assembly polls, the equations change. One will find so many MLAs who have won in the bypolls losing in the state polls,” senior RJD leader and former state finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui remarked.
That said, the general feeling within the party ranks is that Tejashwi’s responsibility in the 2025 assembly polls has grown tougher. “The allies will begin to make more demands,” remarked the above-mentioned RJD legislator.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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