Congress Accepts Bihar Defeat, Says BJP Must Answer Key Questions; Modi’s Bihar Performance Under Scanner

Bengaluru: Karnataka MLC and KPCC Media Wing Chairman Ramesh Babu, in a post on X, said the Congress fully accepts the party’s defeat in Bihar but added that the BJP, as a ruling party claiming high standards, must respond to several uncomfortable questions emerging from the results.

While the NDA’s landslide victory in Bihar has been hailed as a major electoral triumph, Ramesh Babu argued that a closer look at the numbers points to a personal setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He noted that in the 2010 Bihar Assembly elections—when L.K. Advani was still a dominant national face—the BJP secured 91 seats. In 2025, under Modi’s leadership, the party has marginally slipped to 89 seats.

According to him, the data suggests that Modi’s national brand has not translated into a stronger standalone presence for the BJP in Bihar. Instead, the party’s growth continues to rely heavily on regional allies.

Political observers could interpret this as a sign of Modi’s limited state-level expansion in Bihar despite his dominant national stature. “If even in a key NDA state, the BJP’s growth remains capped, critics may argue that Modi’s appeal has hit a ceiling or that regional partners remain indispensable for the alliance,” Ramesh Babu said.

He added that this outcome weakens the widely projected narrative that Modi’s national popularity automatically delivers state-level dominance for the BJP across the country.

Citing historical data, Ramesh Babu pointed out that over a 15-year period, the BJP’s seat tally in Bihar has not improved, despite the party’s dramatic national expansion under Modi. The 2025 outcome, he said, raises questions on whether the BJP is willing to “accept the naked truth”.

He also clarified that while Advani was a towering figure nationally in 2010, the BJP’s state leadership in Bihar at the time rested with Sushil Kumar Modi, and Nitin Gadkari was party president. With Narendra Modi now the undisputed face of the BJP and the NDA, Ramesh Babu argued that a stronger “Modi surge” should have been expected—but the numbers tell a different story.