Regional satraps walk away with honours

Similarly, in Haryana, Chautala’s INLD crossed the halfway mark to make the BJP redundant in the alliance.

But the biggest suprise came from Bihar where RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, prevented the NDA from a runaway victory.

Laloo’s Rashtriya Janata Dal was likely to win around a hundred seats, which, despite being much below the half-way mark of 162, was enough to upset the calculations of the NDA.

As the results started arriving, a pall of gloom descended on the NDA camp. Union Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan put up a brave front, maintaining that the alliance will form the government in the state.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajapyee admitted that the NDA’s performance in Bihar was “not so satisfactory.” The reasons, he said, will have to be probed.

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party managed to stave off a stiff challenge from the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Akbar Ahmed Dumpy at Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party chief’s son Akhilesh Yadav now joins him in Parliament.

The only consolation for the Congress was its empahtic victory in Bellary where the victory margin surpassed that its president Sonia Gandhi in last year’s Lok Sabha polls.