Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Thursday said making Nitish Kumar the Bihar chief minister will be an insult to the electorate as it rejected his Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), in the assembly polls. In an editorial, Saamana said Kumar will be back but would will work under ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s directions. “Nitish Kumar is again going to be the chief minister, but was there such a mandate? After being rejected as the chief minister, to be thrust on the post again is an insult to the electorate… The [swearing-in] ceremony will be akin to handing over the winning medal to a defeated contender,” it said.
The editorial called BJP and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) the winners. RJD emerged as the single largest party in the election with 74 seats while the alliance it led got 110 seats.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance returned to power by winning 125 seats in the 243-member assembly. The BJP, which has said Kumar will be the chief minister even as his party gets lesser seats, won 75 seats and the JD(U) 43.
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The editorial said Kumar will be installed as the chief minister but the reins will be with the BJP even as NDA’s majority is slim. It praised RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and said he has risen as a new leader. “Not just in Bihar, but the entire country has got a spirited leader in Tejaswi Yadav. He fought alone. He climbed the peak of success. He might have not won, but he never conceded defeat either. The fight that he put up will definitely go into history… Tejashwi Yadav wait for a while; the future is yours,” the editorial said.
The mouthpiece said Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen’s presence in the fray helped the BJP. “Because of Owaisi’s candidates, Tejashwi and [RJD-led] Mahagathbandhan [Grand Alliance] lost at least 15 seats. It was because of these 15 seats that the political face in the state changed and Tejashwi could not succeed.”
{{/usCountry}}The mouthpiece said Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen’s presence in the fray helped the BJP. “Because of Owaisi’s candidates, Tejashwi and [RJD-led] Mahagathbandhan [Grand Alliance] lost at least 15 seats. It was because of these 15 seats that the political face in the state changed and Tejashwi could not succeed.”
{{/usCountry}}It referred to Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)’s “poisonous” campaign against Kumar’s JD(U), which cost the latter 20 seats. “Tejashwi Yadav never did such a poisonous campaign against JD(U). Despite that Prime Minister Narendra Modi never said anything to [Chirag] Paswan [of the LJP] and he still continues to remain in the NDA.”