VIP's Mukesh Sahani sees 'win in defeat' after BJP loses Bihar bypoll

Patna (Bihar) [India], April 17 (ANI): Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani, who was recently sacked from the Bihar Cabinet, has claimed victory in his party's defeat in the Bochahan Assembly bypoll in an apparent potshot at the former ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which lost to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
"We thank the people for showing faith in VIP for the Bochahan Assembly bypoll. We contested to win and weren't successful, but we congratulate Amar Paswan (RJD) for the win. Even in our defeat there lies a win for us," said Sahani while speaking to reporters.
He stressed that the BJP lost the bypoll by over 36,000 votes. "Some state leaders (of BJP) still have time for introspection and stop misleading central BJP leaders. The BJP will have more setbacks in 2024 (Lok Sabha elections) or 2025 (Bihar state polls)... BJP Bihar president Sanjay Jaiswal should resign," he said.
Notably, Sahani was a minister in the Bihar Cabinet led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. However, he was sacked from the ministerial post in March this year after three MLAs of his party joined the BJP.
In the counting of votes of the bypolls in four states, RJD's Amar Paswan won the bypoll with 48.52 per cent votes and secured 82,562 votes while VIP's Geeta Kumari secured 17.21 per cent votes. The BJP candidate Baby Kumari got 26.98 per cent votes in the bypoll.
In the recently concluded bypolls, TMC's Shatrughan Sinha won the Asansol Lok Sabha seat, while Babul Supriyo won in Ballygunge Assembly seat, securing 51,199 votes. Congress' Jadhav Jayshri Chandrakant (Anna) won the Kolhapur North Assembly seat in Maharashtra. (ANI)