Bihar bypolls state-level contest, says BJP, defends top brass

BJP today sought to defend its central leadership over the loss of some seats in the Bihar bypolls saying it had been a state-level contest fought by the state leadership.
BJP said it has lost only two of its seats but won four in the bypolls to the 10 Assembly seats in Bihar and will recover lost ground by the next Assembly polls.
In the 2010 Assembly polls, BJP had won six of these 10 seats, while RJD was victorious on three and JD(U) in one.
"The Nitish (Kumar)-Lalu (Prasad Yadav) alliance got six seats while BJP won four. This was a state election and was fought by the Bihar state leadership," said BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain.

Hussain said that the reason the party had failed to secure a better result was that its supporters could not come out and vote in large numbers.
He said the analysis done by its opponents of its loss in Bihar was not correct as no central leader had campaigned in the state.

"We will look into the losses and rectify any shortcomings. We will win the next Assembly elections," Hussain said, adding that every assembly seat in these bypolls was contested with different factors in mind.
He, however, attacked Kumar for having earlier described the Lalu regime as one of terror and asked why he had chosen to align with a leader whose rule he had at one time criticised.

"Is Nitish Kumar so terrorised with BJP that he had to align with someone whose regime he had termed one of terror?" Hussain said.