Patna: The bypoll results in Bihar on Wednesday proved that RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav can run the party in the absence of his father Lalu Prasad, who is behind bars in the fodder scam.
The result has helped Tejashwi emerge as a leader who single-handedly secured the victory of his candidates in Jehanabad and Araria.
" Ye Laluwaad ki jeet hai aur ahankar aur fasiwaad ki haar hai (It is a victory of Laluism and defeat of arrogance and fascism)," Tejashwi told The Telegraph over phone from New Delhi, reacting to the bypoll result before boarding a flight for Patna.
Tejashwi did not let go of a chance to thank chief minister Nitish Kumar.
"I will thank Nitishj ji, who gave me an opportunity to learn the art of politics. Though I had to face difficulties, I never lost hope and had taken a pledge that I will not rest until I succeed," Tejashwi said. His struggle began the day Nitish dropped alliance partners RJD and Congress to form a government with the BJP on July 26 last year.
From that day onwards, he has been on the road, visiting every nook and corner of Bihar, attacking Nitish on several issues.
The 28-year-old addressed 12 public meeting during the bypoll, seven of them in Araria where RJD candidate Sarfaraz Alam won by a margin of 55,000 votes. He campaigned continuously for three days. He was in Jehanabad for two days, holding four public meetings. RJD candidate Sujay Yadav won by a margin of 35,000 votes there.
He had held just one meeting in Bhabhua from where BJP candidate Rinki Rani Pandey won. So, considering the 12 public meetings he addressed, his success rate is 95 per cent.
Nitish had held a public meeting each in Araria, Jehanabad and Bhabhua. Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi held a road show in Araria where the BJP candidate lost.
"Despite the road show, people of Bihar have brought Sushil Modi and Nitish on the road. Since the very beginning I have been saying that Lalu ji is not a person but an ideology, a thought," Tejashwi said. "A thought can never be jailed and those who have jailed him are facing the consequences today."
But the former deputy chief minister did not take credit for the RJD's two victories. "I am not saying that people have voted seeing my face," Tejashwi said. "But I want to seek the view of those who used to say that votes are given seeing his (read Nitish) face." Tejashwi said the bypoll results proved that the people of Bihar have completely rejected the BJP-JDU alliance.
Taunting Nitish for using a helicopter during the campaign, Tejashwi said: "People on the road have defeated those in a helicopter. By overnight switching sides, Nitish has axed his own feet and rendered himself politically irrelevant. People of Bihar are in no mood to forgive his morality and conscience of comfort and political stunts anytime soon. The BJP is already feeling the burden of the alliance with him."
Later in the evening, Tejashwi, HAMS president Jitan Ram Manjhi and Bihar Congress working president Kaukab Quadri interacted with journalists and flashed a victory sign at his 5 Deshratna Marg residence.
