The BJP sprang a surprise on Sunday by playing the EBC card and declaring Prem Kumar as Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

Prem (60), representing the Gaya Town Assembly seat for the seventh consecutive time, will replace another veteran party leader, Nand Kishore Yadav.

In a meeting of BJP MLAs, the decision of projecting Prem - an MLA since 1990 - came when BJP national in-charge Ananth Kumar and Nand Kishore held a closed-door meeting.

Later, a crestfallen Nand Kishore told mediapersons that he was opting out of the race. "I am taking the moral responsibility for the defeat of my party," he said.

Ananth said Nand Kishore (62) only had proposed Prem's name for the post and he was elected unanimously.

The sudden change indicates that the state unit of the party is in for a major overhaul after the humiliating defeat in the Assembly polls.

While Nand Kishore is likely to be shifted to Delhi as the party's national general secretary, several state leaders, including Bihar BJP chief Mangal Pandey, may be on their way out. The party's state executive body is in for a major change, hinted a senior BJP leader.

Immediately after being elected, Prem thanked the party for having faith in him. "I have been associated with the party since 1973. I never thought that a simple worker like me will be a minister. But I was made a minister also. We will play the role of a constructive Opposition in the Assembly and raise issues of public interest. We will support the government on prohibition. But we will also raise issues related to falling law and order and traffic jam on Gandhi Setu for four continuous days," he added.

Prem, who was a minister in the Nitish Kumar government during the NDA regime, belongs to the EBC's Kahar caste having substantial population in parts of the state.

BJP insiders say efforts to woo the Yadavs during the Assembly polls failed and it was felt that wooing the EBC votes would be more fruitful for future politics in the state.

The EBCs in Bihar are a group of 100 castes, which constitute around 28 per cent of the votes. The BJP insiders added that while they had not got the desired number of Dalit votes on the Assembly polls, a large number of EBC votes stuck with them.

The BJP leaders pointed out that the party got 93 lakh votes in the 157 seats it had contested and a substantial proportion of it was the EBCs. The party's efforts to woo he Yadav votes through leaders like Nand Kishore and Ram Kripal Yadav appears to have failed.

In 2013, when the JDU snapped ties with the BJP and Nand Kishore was declared Leader of the Opposition, Prem openly aired his frustration by declaring that he should have been made the leader because of his seniority in the legislative.