This Article is From May 16, 2014

Election Results 2014: From Nitish Kumar, Only a Glum Silence

Election Results 2014: From Nitish Kumar, Only a Glum Silence
Patna: In 2009, after the Lok Sabha elections, the Janta Dal (United) office in Patna was the hub of all action, and celebration.

On the back of a hugely popular BJP-JD(U) government that was in power in Bihar between 2004 and 2009, Nitish Kumar's party had won 20 of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats. Alliance partners BJP won a further 12.

Cut to 2014. At the JD(U) office, except a few bored policemen, not a single person was to be spotted. In an election where the BJP and JD(U) fought separately after a political divorce in 2013 over Narendra Modi , Nitish Kumar's party is down to just two seats.

In a small room in one corner of the office, some party members huddled together and watched TV, and tried to make sense of a result that had them extremely dismayed. On record, Chotu Singh, part of the younger lot in the JD(U) said "This election was completely polarised. It was about the Congress losing and the BJP winning. We didn't stand a chance. But you wait for next year's assembly elections. We will do well."

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not step out of his 1 Anne Marg residence all day. No press conference was called, Mr Kumar did not offer any soundbytes to journalists holding vigil outside his house. Unlike 2009, not even a samosa was offered.

But if the Chief Minister was watching TV, he wouldn't have escaped the taunts from his former BJP colleagues, including former deputy Chief Minister and one time close aide Sushil Kumar Modi.

At a press conference at the BJP headquarters , Mr Modi, buoyant after a sweep by the NDA in Bihar, had this to say about Mr Kumar: "The JD(U) has been wiped out. Want the Bihar CM to resign on moral grounds. He had made this election into a referendum for his work. And he wanted to take the entire credit for the work that's happened here."

The next few days will be crucial for Mr Kumar. His government is already in a minority in the Bihar assembly and there is speculation the dissent within his party will grow, with support from the opposition. More trouble la ahead it seems, for Bihar's Mr Governance.

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