BJP piggybacks on Nitish to historic win

Winning 91 of the 103 seats it contested in Bihar, the BJP has performed even better than the Janata Dal (United), which fought 140 seats to win 115.

Winning 91 of the 103 seats it contested in Bihar, the BJP has performed even better than the Janata Dal (United), which fought 140 seats to win 115. The BJP has even won in areas with large Muslim populations. The party's quantum leap - up from 55 in the last assembly - is mainly being attributed to better organised campaign and its network of cadres in every district.

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The performance is all the more spectacular as JD(U) chief minister Nitish Kumar was the face of the alliance. Nitish also saw to it that the BJP's core Hindutva agenda was kept completely out of the campaign.

There were tensions between the two parties over getting Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to campaign in the state. BJP wanted him, Nitish did not; he eventually stayed away.