People of Bihar against divisive politics: Nitish

"The message is clear, that people of Bihar do not endorse divisive politics. We have to try harder but the verdict of people of Bihar is clear," said Nitish Kumar as the alliance of JD-U-RJD and Congress is set to win at least six of the ten assembly seats that went to polls. 

"The result is a victory of the ideals of amity and peace," said Kumar who had parted ways with the BJP earlier over the issue of supporting Narendra Modi as the PM.

"We have to analyze more but not now. The result could have been even better but whatever has come in a small time made us happy," he said.

Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U) combine along with their junior partner Congress in Bihar won four seats already and was ahead in  most of the 10 assembly seats  as counting progressed in 18 seats across four Indian states on Monday.

While RJD won Rajnagar, Chapra and Mohiuddinagar seats, Congress has won the Bhagalpur seat. In most of the other seats the alliance is ahead. BJP won the Narkatiaganj seat  in Bihar so far but going by trends is not doing well despite winning handsomely in the Lok Sabha polls this year.

The duo, both former chief ministers of Bihar, had joined hands to take on their common enemy Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. On Aug 11, they had held their first rally together and were seen hugging each other at the event. Both the parties entered into a seat-sharing agreement along with the Congress in which both JD-U and RJD had decided to contest in four seats each leaving two to the Congress in Bihar.

The BJP had won 32 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state in this year’s Lok Sabha election. It is contesting the by-election in nine seats leaving only one to its ally Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

The by-elections in Bihar are being seen as the semi-finals ahead of the high-voltage state Assembly polls scheduled next year.