PATNA / KOLKATA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday tendered his resignation as his JD(U) could win only two seats out of a total of 40 LS seats, with the saffron party sweeping 24 seats.
In fact, Nitish Kumar’s government was in minority as the JD(U) had only 116 legislators in the 234-member Assembly.
It was supported from outside by four Congress MLAs, four independents and a lone CPI legislator.
The BJP in Assam, as was expected, bagged seven seats sweeping the Brahmaputra valley while the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) won three seats.
The only two chief ministers in the eastern region who could survive the onslaught of Narendra Modi tsunami and stop it at their state borders are West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik.
Both had fiercely attacked Modi during their campaigns as well as the Congress, but succeeded in winning a majority of the Lok Sabha seats in their states. Mamata consolidated her position among the state’s electorate, 28 per cent of which are Muslims.