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Published 08:14 IST, December 9th 2022

BJP demands Nitish Kumar's resignation after JDU's bypoll defeat; 'People want change'

After his party won the Kurhani Assembly bypoll on Thursday, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi demanded the resignation of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Reported by: Akhil Oka
Image: PTI | Image: self

After his party won the Kurhani Assembly bypoll on Thursday, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi demanded the resignation of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Modi, who served as the Deputy CM of the state for 11 years, told the media that the election result was an indicator of the decreasing popularity of Kumar. Claiming that the ruling coalition tried to lure voters the night before the day of the polling, he maintained that the people wanted change. Moreover, Modi exuded confidence in BJP winning the next Bihar Assembly polls. 

Sushil Modi remarked, "After the loss in Gopalganj and Kurhani, Nitish Kumar should resign. In 2014, he was restricted to two seats in the Lok Sabha election. He had resigned then. Similarly, he has to accept that his popularity is decreasing. His core voters- Most Backward Castes have moved towards BJP. They tried their best. In the night (before polling), crores of rupees were distributed among the poor. Despite this, he could not win the election." 

"People want change. They want change. Nitish Kumar should understand this and resign from his post. I thank the people of Kurhani and our party workers who worked hard day and night to secure this win. To split our votes, they put up Nilabh (Kumar). Mukesh Sahani was used. But they weren't successful. Whether it is the Lok Sabha or the Assembly election, BJP will win the election with a huge majority," he added. He was referring to the fact that Mukesh Sahani-led VIP fielded a candidate from Kurhani who got 10000 votes.

The Bihar bypoll

The by-election to the Kurhani Assembly seat was necessitated by the disqualification of the sitting RJD MLA Anil Kumar Sahani. In the 2020 Assembly polls, Sahani defeated BJP's Kedar Prasad Gupta by less than 700 votes when JDU was a part of the NDA. As Nitish Kumar's party rejoined the Mahagathbandhan in August, JDU fielded Manoj Kushwaha Singh from this seat. On the other hand, BJP reposed faith in Gupta. Ultimately, Gupta trounced Singh by a margin of 3645 votes. While the BJP candidate secured 76,722 votes, his JDU rival bagged only 73,073 votes. 

Updated 08:14 IST, December 9th 2022

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