 "Bihar, Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, Grand Alliance")
It was a mixed bag of luck for the sons and close relatives of politicians in the just-concluded Bihar elections, with the two sons of RJD president Lalu Prasad and some others from the grand secular alliance emerging victorious while those from the NDA coming a cropper.
RJD's Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav, the two sons of former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad who made their electoral debut from Mahua and Raghopur constituencies respectively in Vaishali district, won comfortably.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made objectionable remark about Lalu Prasad that his aim is to set his sons and daughter in politics. While people chose me and my brother, why sons and close relatives of NDA leaders failed to win voters' support?" Tejaswi told reporters after his victory.
In the RJD, former Darbhanga MP M A A Fatmi's son Mohammad Faraz won from the Keoti seat in Darbhanga. Alok Mehta, son of former minister Tulsi Das Mehta, romped home from Ujiyarpur in Samastipur district while Bhagalpur RJD MP Bullo Mandal's wife Barsha Rani won from Bihpur seat in Bhagalpur.
In the JD(U), the son of ex-MLA Ram Sevak Hazari won from Kalyanpur in Samastipur while Sarfaraz Alam, son of former minister Mohammad Taslimuddin, bagged Jokihat seat in Araria.
From the Congress, Ashok Ram, the son of former minister Baleshwar Ram emerged winner from Rosera reserved seat. Former MP Chandrabhanu Devi's daughter Amita Bhusan won from Begusarai seat while former minister Dilkeshwar Ram's son Rajesh Kumar won from Kutumba in Aurangabad.
Painting a different picture, BJP's Buxar MP Ashwani Choubey's son Arjit Sashwat lost from Bhagalpur seat to his Congress rival Ajeet Sharma, who always tasted defeat at the hands of Arijit's father from the seat.
Former Union minister C P Thakur's son Vivek Thakur lost from Brahmpur in Buxar. Vivek Thakur was given ticket in place of BJP veteran Kailashpati Mishra's daughter-in-law and sitting MLA from this seat Dilmani Devi.
The same is the fate of relatives of allies. LJP president Ramvilas Paswan's younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras lost from Alauli reserved seat. Another LJP MP from Khagaria Mahmood Ali Kaisar's son Yusuf Khan was defeated in the family seat of Simri Bhaktiyarpur.
Ramvilas Paswan's two sons-in-law Anil Kumar Sadhu and Mrinal lost from Bochaha and Kushehswarsthan, respectively.
In the Hindustani Awam Morcha, Jitan Ram Manjhi's son Santosh Kumar Suman failed to enter Vidhan Sabha from Kutumba reserved seat. His son-in-law Devendra Manjhi came a cropper in Bodh Gaya seat.
HAM state president Shakuni Chaudhary as well his son Rajesh Kumar lost the election as well.
