Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday revealed that he knew that the Janata Dal United candidate in Jehanabad would lose the Assembly byelection but the party went ahead and contested only after a strong request from its ally BJP.

After the bypoll results were announced on Wednesday, Nitish had attributed the NDA's defeat in Araria and Jehanabad to the sympathy factor. The NDA lost Araria Lok Sabha seat, where the BJP had contested, and in Jehanabad where the JDU had fielded Abhiram Sharma. The margin of the JDU's loss was over 35,000, indicating aggressive voting for the RJD candidate.

Nitish, also the JDU national president, on Monday suggested the party fought the poll on pressure from the BJP.

"We had decided and made up our mind not to contest the byelections but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made a strong request to us. Then the party (JDU) thought that if we do not fulfil their request and if the results are not as per expectation, then the entire blame will fall on us. In spite of knowing the results, we had to accept their request and fielded our candidate," Nitish said in the party office.

Taking a high moral ground, Nitish had earlier justified the JDU state unit's decision, saying it was a policy not to participate in bypolls if the vacancy is due to the demise of any sitting member not belonging to the party. On Monday too, Nitish reiterated that it was a policy decision of the party not to field a candidate in the bypolls.

It is widely believed that the main reason why Nitish lost the seat with a big margin was prohibition and scarcity of sand which hit the people at large. As present more than 1.2 lakh people are in jail for violating the prohibition law. Similarly, the construction sector has come to a standstill because of the sand crunch.