RJD workers celebrate in Patna on Thursday after the party’s success in the Bihar Assembly bypolls. (PTI)

Patna, Sept. 17: Lalu Prasad today trumped Nitish Kumar in the “semi-final” ahead of next year’s Bihar Assembly polls, handing the Janata Dal (United) leader his first electoral setback since becoming chief minister four years ago.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal-Lok Janshakti Party alliance of Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan won eight of 18 bypoll seats to the NDA’s six. The NDA held 14 of the 18 seats and has now lost eight, while the RJD-LJP had four and has gained four.

The Congress, which held none of the 18 seats, flashed a sign of revival by winning two, equal to the BJP’s tally.

The results show that the embattled Lalu Prasad, who has been keeping a low profile since the Lok Sabha rout, may be regaining his vaunted charisma. His party emerged the day’s largest single winner with five seats — one more than the JD(U) bagged.

“The people have exposed Nitish Kumar’s so called susashan (good governance). The result is the manifestation of strong resentment gripping the people against Nitish’s policy of dividing society on caste lines. The LJP-RJD combination got the support of all sections of society,” Lalu Prasad thundered.

One key factor that seems to have gone against Nitish is the rebellion in his ranks. Many of his MPs and MLAs ganged up against the chief minister for denying tickets to their candidates.

Second, Nitish constituted the D. Bandopadhyay Commission, which backed the rights of bataidars (sharecroppers), antagonising the upper castes who had voted NDA in the Lok Sabha polls.

Nitish’s decision to field RJD defectors too boomeranged. Shyam Razak, Lalu Prasad’s right-hand man, had joined the JD(U) soon after the Lok Sabha polls. He was fielded from Phulwari Sharief, with Nitish turning the contest into a prestige battle.

Razak, however, lost to Udai Majhi who, ironically, had shifted to the RJD from the JD(U). Similarly, Ramai Ram, who had won the Bochacha seat five times as RJD nominee, lost after joining the JD(U). He too was beaten by an RJD rival who had crossed over from the JD(U).

Soon after the Lok Sabha polls, Lalu Prasad had announced he would stay in Bihar and fan out to its remotest corners to find out from the voters why they had deserted him. He did just that, meeting and cajoling voters, and it seems to have paid off.

“We are not finished. We finish others. The result is a warning bell for Nitish Kumar,” PTI quoted the RJD chief and former chief minister as saying.

The Bahujan Samaj Party won the Nautan seat.