How Bihar polls may alter BJP’s tally in Rajya Sabha

In contrast, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who led the anti-Modi alliance in Bihar, was able to trade on his record of turning around a state that was once widely considered to be among India’s most corrupt and lawless.

Sunday’s loss in Bihar, India’s third most populous and poorest state, is the most significant setback for Modi since he won a crushing victory in a general election past year.

“If they don’t manage to get that consensus, we won’t have sustained and stable reforms”, said M.R. Madhavan, president of PRS Legislative Research and a leading observer of parliamentary politics. “There are lessons to be learned”. “The statement only helped the Grand Alliance”. Results and trends available so far show that the alliance has bagged 13 seats and is ahead in 127.

The defeat could also dampen the mood as Modi heads to Britain for the first bilateral visit by an Indian leader since 2006. Modi is due to address a crowd next week at London’s Wembley stadium. Sources in the party said that as of now, “no drastic change has been envisaged as a corrective”.

Joshi, who is in charge of party affairs in the state, had initially said that it was party high command to decide the matter (of participation in the new government). Senior party leaders, incensed by this and other provocations came out with vituperative statements against Mr. Sinha. Modi’s campaign started with a message of economic development, then, as the race began to tighten, his party shifted to appealing to caste and religious alliances. The slaughter of cows, an animal revered by the majority Hindu population, became a major topic.

Two days after the BJP suffered a shocking defeat in Bihar, the veterans in the party have hit out at the leadership. India’s states are represented in the upper house, where the BJP lacks a majority. Over the past year, Modi has struggled to pass laws, including tax and labour reforms, and now faces an opposition with political momentum. “It raises the likelihood that the opposition will use this mandate to block important bills”, said Milan Vaishnav of Carnegie Endowment for worldwide Peace. “In elections you win a few and lose a few”.

The election was one of the most vicious in recent years.