In BJP’s defeat to RJD in Bochahan, Mukesh Sahani sees a big VIP win

PATNA: Vikashsheel Inshaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani on Saturday jeered at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bihar leadership after the ruling party lost the Bochahan assembly bypoll to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), saying it was time that the BJP’s central leadership realise that they are being misled by its state leaders.

“What the BJP did with me, Bochahan voters did with them (BJP). We are a small party, but we have to grow and we are not ready to be subjugated or be at others’ beck and call,” Sahani said, recalling the elaborate campaign that the BJP ran in Bochahan, led by ministers, MPs and legislators to counter the RJD.

Sahani’s party, the VIP till recently was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and had fought the 2020 Bihar assembly elections as part of this coalition. The Bochahan seat was one of the four that VIP candidates won as part of this alliance but the seat fell vacant in December last year with the death of the VIP legislator Musafir Paswan.

The BJP decided to field its candidate in the Bochahan bypoll rather than back the VIP candidate, a reflection of the souring relations between the two parties. In March, the BJP, who had been sore that the VIP fielded candidates in the Uttar Pradesh elections, inducted the VIP’s three Bihar legislators into the BJP leaving an angry Mukesh Sahani fretting and fuming.

The VIP, despite being battered and humiliated, did not give up and fought with full might, knowing it could only be vying for the third place.

As the votes were counted on Saturday, the RJD’s Amar Kumar Paswan emerged at the top from Bochahan with a 48.52% vote share, 82,547 votes. The BJP’s Baby Kumar was a distant second with 45,889 votes (26.98% votes), followed by the VIP’s Geeta Kumari who secured 29,276 votes (17.21%).

“I have done much better than the BJP (in terms of expanding my vote base). Last time, the VIP candidate won by over 12,000 votes and this time the BJP has lost by over 35,000 votes. VIP has got the people’s support to once again resurrect its fortunes and that we will, but it is high time the BJP central leadership did a deep analysis to realise how the local leaders try to mislead them by feeding wrong info to them. This way BJP will have more setbacks in 2024 and 2025,” said Mukesh Sahani, who was a minister in the Nitish Kumar council of ministers till last month when he was dropped from the team.

Sahni said the VIP’s success in getting close to 30,000 votes (18%) on its own was a testimony to the fact the party was no more confined to the fisherman community.

“Nishads have a voting capacity of 7-8%, but VIP getting 18% votes means support of other extremely backward communities (EBCs) also. We will work on strengthening our organisation as there are no elections in future,” said Sahni, ruling out the possibility of the VIP joining a political grouping in the near future.

Muzaffarpur has always been a stronghold for the BJP and losing there to RJD, and that, too, so badly to be in the fight only with the third-ranked VIP, which seemed to do better than many expected, has certainly left a lot to ponder.

“It may have far-reaching consequences. After the recent Legislative Council elections, which saw RJD improve its tally, Bochahan may give an indication of changing people’s perception. How far it will go and whether it is a temporary thing, only time will tell, as Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are still far away, but the new trend is certainly emerging. There could be more to the result than meets the eye, as it may also put a thaw on BJP’s growing assertiveness in the state for the time being,” said former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies DM Diwakar.