Did ignoring Sushil Kumar Modi hurt BJP

The BJP, seemingly, approached the Bihar Assembly elections with too many chief ministerial hopefuls only to concede the high post in Patna in the end to the JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar. Despite the BJP having Sushil Kumar Modi in its ranks, who had been the deputy chief minister in the state NDA government for eight years, the saffron party chose to allow speculation aplenty of finding a Bihar version of Manohar Lal Khattar in the state.

Incidentally, BJP chief Amit Shah was seen soaked in arrogance by the state party leaders and workers who discovered that his political aide Bhupinder Yadav was much more influential than those from the state. “Sushil Kumar Modi had scripted major NDA win the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, because the then BJP chief Rajnath Singh had given freedom to pick candidates and even the ministers in the Narendra Modi Cabinet. But Mr Shah fanned the fire of speculation that Mr Sushil might not be the chief ministerial choice,” sources within the BJP said.

The BJP in Bihar found itself in a piquant situation with a greenhorn Rajendra Singh, who got party ticket to contest from the Dinara Assembly seat, apparently floated the idea that he could be the Manohar Lal Khattar of the state because of his strong links with the RSS. “Rajendra Singh was not known in his constituency. So, he conveniently floated the idea, which soon spread and none denied,” said a senior RSS functionary. Incidentally, Mr Singh lost his maiden election too.

With names of BJP leaders Prem Kumar, Nand Kishore Yadav, Rameshwar Chourasia, Rajiv Pratap Rudy doing the rounds, sources in the state BJP said the party workers developed cold feet even as traditional voters sought to bet with the tested incumbent chief minister Mr Nitish Kumar.

The lack of a command centre in BJP leadership from Patna apparently saw many flip-flops in the NDA campaign in which the PM made “factually incorrect” accusations against Mr Kumar.