Patna,(BiharTimes): Education minister Prashant Kumar Shahi, who was JD(U)’s candidate from Maharajganj Lok Sabha by-election last week, said even the campaign by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi would not have ensured his victory.

Shahi, who lost to RJD's Prabhunath Singh, by a margin of 1,37,000 votes said Modi was absolutely no issue in his constituency.

However, he attributed lapses and poor poll management for his defeat and said there was no polling agent of his party on about 400 polling stations.

Rejecting Lalu Yadav’s statement that it was Nitish’s defeat Shahi said: “It is my defeat, not the defeat of CM Nitish Kumar.”

The minister said he got hardly a month to campaign and could not well manage the election, which was his first electoral battle.

He denied that he had ever blamed the BJP for his defeat in the Maharajganj bypoll.

Shahi accused the media of misquoting him and said it was irresponsible journalism. They should have checked with him instead of running a commentary.

He said he never mentioned the BJP but had said that some of his friends in the alliance were not enthusiastic by his presence in the poll ring.

He also refuted the allegations that he had left the counting centre after the second round of counting. He said he remained there till the last round of counting and left only after he ensured all the agents had left.