Rabri wins but relatives bite the dust

PATNA: As power appeared slipping away from the hands of Lalu Prasad's RJD, at least seven ministers of the Rabri Devi government on Sunday lost as the Chief Minister herself won comfortably from Raghopur. The ministers who lost the election include Indradeo Prasad (Goriakothi), Ravindra Charan Yadav (Kishunganj), Udit Rai (Chapra), Raghvendra Pratap Singh (Barahra), Shivshanker Yadav (Darauli), Rama Devi (Motihari) (all RJD) and Vijay Shanker Dubey (Raghunathpur) of Congress.Though all other ministers finished second, Dubey came a poor third. The NDA too suffered a major loss when leader of the Opposition in the assembly Upendra Prasad Singh JD(U) finished third at Jandaha. Assembly Speaker Sadanand Singh (Congress) won his Kahalgaon seat for a record seventh time. State NDA convenor Nandkishore Yadav of BJP won Patna (East) seat while state Samajwadi Party president Dadan Singh was another prominent winner.