Patna,(BiharTimes): As expected the ruling Janata Dal (United) has been completely wiped out in Bihar. The party has won only two seats against 20 in 2009 when it contested in alliance with the BJP––the latter won 12 seats then.

The only debating point left in Bihar is whether the Verdict 2014 was more against chief minister Nitish Kumar or against the Congress party or its leaders like Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and for that matter Rahul Gandhi, who now virtually calls the shot.

As Rahul was not a big factor in Bihar and his party managed to retain two seats––as in the last time––voters anger seems to be directed more against Nitish Kumar than him. While the upper castes and Paswans (Dussadhs) felt cheated by Nitish’s move to empower the Extremely Backward Castes and Mahadalits, the last two also deserted him when the Narendra Modi juggernaut entered Bihar and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate projected himself as an OBC.

In this hour of crisis Nitish is reportedly consulting his non-political old friends, many of them from engineering college days.

He called a cabinet meeting on Thursday, first after the election was over, but five of his ministers––agriculture minister Narendra Singh, energy minister Bijendra Yadav, industries minister Lesi Singh, minorities affairs minister Shahid Ali Khan and planning minister Narendra Narayan Yadav––abstained from it citing one reason or the other. Another minister Ramai Ram publicly cricitized his own party for the wrong selection of candidates for the election. He did not mince words while talking to the mediapersons after the cabinet meeting. In fact he was eager to contest election from Hajipur, but the Janata Dal (United) gave the ticket to its sitting MP, 93-year old Ram Sundar Das.

Some ministers were locked in a heated exchange of words among them before the cabinet meeting started. That was the scene in the party a day before the results were actually announced.

The results have raised a pertinent question: will Janata Dal (United) regain its lost ground by the next Assembly election in 2015 or will it return to 1995 Assembly election level when, its earlier version, the Samata Party had won only seven seats in the House strength of 324 then.