Victory a result of Lalu’s ideology: Tejashwi Prasad Yadav

PATNA: Leader of opposition in state assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Thursday termed the victory of RJD in Jokihat bypoll as the victory of Laluvaad (Lalu's ideology) over avsarvaad (opportunism).

“This is a win for Laluwaad. BJP and CM Nitish Kumar are nowhere close to understanding Lalu,” Tejashwi told reporters here soon after the declaration of results.

He added, “Lalu Prasad is an ideology. People are unhappy with the way he was treated and they have taught Nitish a lesson in this election by defeating the JD (U). The number of votes JD (U) got is less than our victory margin,” the Yadav scion said.

He added people of Bihar are continuing to avenge the U-turn taken by Nitish when he left the Grand Alliance of RJD, Congress and JD (U) in July last year and returned to the NDA fold.

“This is the third consecutive bypoll win for RJD after Nitish’s U-turn. Now, it cannot be said that only our core constituencies of Muslim and Yadav supported us. All sections of the society are voting for us and we are managing to win even on those seats which are not traditionally strong ones for us,” Tejashwi said, while referring to Jokihat assembly seat, which was won by JD (U) in last three elections.

He said JD (U)’s defeat was a befitting reply by the electorate to CM Nitish for “allowing communal violence in the state during Ram Navami celebrations in March”.

He added: “It is the defeat of those who spewed venom and distributed swords all across the state during Ram Navami celebrations. People of Jokihat and entire Bihar have shown support for us for talking about communal harmony. I thank the voters for our victory in Jokihat. It is their win.”

Taking a dig at JD (U) for the “poor” performance of its candidate, Tejashwi said, “BJP got around 39,500 votes in Jokihat assembly segment in the last Lok Sabha elections (2014). JD (U), on the other hand, got 40,016 votes this time. This means that apart from BJP’s vote, Nitish’s party got only around 500 votes. I guess the charisma of his face, which he quite often talks about, has gone,” the Yadav scion said.

Tejashwi said if Nitish had any moral conscience left, he should immediately resign as CM.