Patna, Aug 4 — Janata Dal (United) MLA, Anant Singh, on Tuesday said that the BJP's defeat in the Bankipur Assembly bye-election could have been avoided if party chief and Rajya Sabha MP, Nitish Kumar, had continued as the Chief Minister of Bihar, claiming that public dissatisfaction over the change in leadership in the state played a decisive role in the outcome.
His remarks came after Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor secured a thumping victory in the Bankipur Assembly bypoll, defeating BJP candidate Neeraj Kumar Sinha by a margin of 18,963 votes and ending the BJP's 35-year-long hold over the constituency.
Reacting to the result, Singh said the mandate reflected the sentiments of the people, who were unhappy with the change in the state's leadership after the Assembly elections.
Speaking to IANS, Singh said, "The public is the master. Whoever they vote for wins. The public is saddened that someone is appointed Chief Minister, only to be removed midway and replaced by someone else."
He further asserted that the outcome would have been different had Nitish Kumar remained at the helm of the government.
"If Nitish Kumar had been Chief Minister, this situation would not have arisen... The public didn't like this. Samrat Choudhary's appointment doesn't matter. The public made Nitish Kumar CM," he told IANS.
Singh also claimed that a large section of people continued to believe that Nitish Kumar had been removed from the Chief Minister's post against the public mandate, even though he rejected that perception.
"The entire public says that we appointed Nitish Kumar as CM, and the BJP removed him without his consent, but this claim is baseless. Nitish Kumar himself stepped down, but no one is ready to accept this. Everyone believes in Nitish Kumar," he added.
Winning a constituency long regarded as a BJP stronghold, Kishor combined an intensive grassroots campaign with an agenda centred on governance, education, employment and development, while capitalising on local political issues to build support across traditional caste lines. Traditional caste equations appeared to weaken, and voters from diverse social groups rallied behind the Jan Suraaj candidate.
By polling day, it was evident that Kishor had made significant inroads into vote banks stretching from upper-caste communities to sections of the Yadav and Muslim electorate. However, the scale of his eventual victory surprised even those who had sensed a strong undercurrent in his favour.
The BJP's defeat in Bankipur, a constituency long regarded as one of its safest urban strongholds, therefore carries significance far beyond the boundaries of the seat.