JDU spokesperson KC Tyagi concedes defeat, blames COVID-19 for Nitish Kumar-led NDA’s loss

New Delhi: Janata Dal-United spokesperson KC Tyagi on Tuesday said that the COVID-19 pandemic and its disastrous economic consequences have left Nitish Kumar and his party gasping for breath shortly after the counting of votes began in Bihar for 243 assembly seats and showed the Grand Alliance taking an early lead.

Conceding defeat in the closely contested electoral battle, Tyagi said that the "Brand Nitish" is intact though they appear to have lost the electoral battle to Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan.

"We have not been defeated by Tejashwi Yadav but by natural calamity,” Tyagi said.

“Neither the brand Nitish has disappeared nor Tejashwi Yadav has been established. It is worth mentioning that in the trends that have come from Bihar till now, there is a close fight between the NDA and the Grand Alliance. The competition is so close that it is very difficult to make any guesses about the result,” Tyagi said.

Tyagi also put the blame on Chirag Paswan-led LJP which played the role of “vote katua” in the elections. Reaction from Tyagi came after initial trends showed the Grand Alliance taking an early lead over the NDA.

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Although Tejashwi Yadav-led Grand Alliance was leading in the initial trends of counting for the Bihar Assembly election 2020, the BJP-JDU alliance made a strong comeback.

Till the last reports came in, NDA was leading in 119 seats out of 243 seats. Mahagathbandhan was leading in 106 seats.