Patna:
Nitish Kumar's biggest victory - and Bihar's most decisive mandate ever - has taken the biggest toll on Lalu Yadav.
For the first time in 30 years, not a single member of the former chief minister's family has been elected to the Bihar Assembly. His wife, Rabri Devi, lost the election from both the constituencies she contested - Raghopur and Sonepur.
"I accept the mandate of the people of Bihar and congratulate Nitish Kumar. Though the result is surprising and mysterious," said Lalu, visibly tired at a press conference late this afternoon.
This time around, Lalu's Rashtriya Janata Dal has managed 22 seats - in the last elections, it won 64.
Between 1990 and 2005, Lalu Yadav's brand of personal and political theatre had risked turning him and his state into a caricature. He became a media favourite - choosing often to be filmed while milking cows, always dependable for quips in his trademark Bhinglish - Bihari English. And while he was a favourite in TV studios, the media also gave his governance a less-than-flattering brand name - goonda raj.
As Nitish Kumar, with his emphasis on Development, established himself as the new icon of a Bihar that could, Lalu realised his state was slipping away.
He was curt with the media. He had once said, "I don't shoot off my mouth. I don't meet the media often." When asked why, he responded, "It's a waste of time."
Political analysts offer that the identity politics that Lalu introduced for communities that were marginalised helped them find a voice in the system. "But in politics you have to move on. Although I must say Lalu was able to manage with the same idea for 18 long years, over more than three elections, but ideas have 'use-by' dates," says Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief of the Indian Express newspaper.
Nitish's emphasis on honest and effective governance began making inroads into parts of the state that had so far focused only on caste. In the run-up to these elections, Lalu tried to emphasis his professional accomplishments. "No one can deny my work as Railway Minister," he said at a public rally recently.
But the voter in Bihar has proved to be a discerning one. The man credited with ending the Brahmin regime in Bihar is no longer the best option on the block. What he has stood for is understood in the most underdeveloped parts of the state to have kept Bihar from progress.
Nitish Kumar said today that the verdict in these elections is the beginning of "a new story."
Those who know him best point out that Lalu has the instincts and will of a survivor - if Bihar has found a new story, Lalu will try to do the same.