With polling trends on Tuesday showing Janata Dal-United underperforming in a big way, Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan appeared to be succeeding in damaging Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led party by playing a major role in its poor show in many seats.
The LJP, though, itself looked to have paid a big price in the process, as the Election Commission data till 5.30 pm showed that neither it had won nor it was leading even in a single seat while drawing around over 5.6 per cent of votes.
Paswan’s party has, however, been instrumental in the JD-U’s loss in at least 30 seats, as per the latest trends made public by the Election Commission.
JD-U spokesperson K C Tyagi said that a “sinister” campaign was run against Nitish Kumar as part of a “conspiracy”.
“Apne bhi shamil the aur begane bhi (Our own also harmed us along with the outsiders),” he said, without taking any names.
He, however, expressed confidence that Kumar will become the chief minister again, noting that top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have made it clear that he will head the government if the ruling NDA retains power.
