PATNA, Sept. 7 -- The BJP core team for Bankipur in a meeting with party president Nitin Nabin on Saturday attributed their unexpected August 3 bypoll defeat to the NEET paper leak, the University Grants Commission's 2026 Equity Regulations, and the handling of the Cockroach Janata Party's Jantar Mantar protest over former education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation, leaders in the know said on Sunday. At the state level, party workers also attributed the defeat to the Bihar government's crackdown on the sale of public-use "Gair Mazarua" land-such as ponds, roads, cremation grounds, and schools-via stricter registry checks and mandatory Khata-Khesra matching, as well as the police encounter of 28-year-old Bharat Bhushan Tiwari in Bhojpur. Even as workers insisted they had left no stone unturned, Nabin heard all 10 "mandal adhyakshs" (unit presidents) of the Bankipur constituency and senior state functionaries for over two hours before disclosing he had his own evidence - photographs and WhatsApp screenshots - of internal dissension and betrayal. However, the leadership chose not to pursue a blame game, instead urging cadres to stay united and focus on public grievances. Candidates Abhishek Kumar, alias "Bunty," who withdrew at the last moment citing family reasons, and Neeraj Kumar Sinha, who lost to Jan Suraaj's Prashant Kishor by 19,324 votes, attended the meeting. Nabin said the Bankipur party office near the income-tax roundabout would keep functioning as a public grievance-redressal point even as he had moved to the Rajya Sabha and the party had lost the over three-decade-old stronghold of Bankipur. The post-mortem also found some BJP star campaigners more focused on photo-ops with workers than voter outreach, leaders in the know said. Cadres conceded Jan Suraaj Party had outperformed the BJP on messaging. "Their product and marketing was better than ours," one admitted. Patna Mahanagar unveils 'Seva Sankalp Abhiyan' Meanwhile, BJP Patna Mahanagar held a one-day workshop on Sunday to launch "Seva Sankalp Abhiyan," marking 25 years of Narendra Modi's uninterrupted public life. Media coordinator Navneet Kumar said the month-long campaign runs from September 17 to October 17. Kumar listed the sub-programmes: "Ashirwad Ka Diya" will reach beneficiaries of central schemes from September 17; school-level competitions will engage 25 crore children on their vision of India; "Namo Seva Gatha" will stage the government's achievements through street plays; and "Aangan Ka Utsav" will involve anganwadi workers and helpers. A fifth strand, "Badlav Ki Kahani," will review and document past work, while a compilation of Modi government schemes will be pushed on social media under the Vikas Bharat Sankalp Yatra banner. "Seva Jyoti Yatra" will bring youth processions, and "Seva Mera Yogdaan" will run category-wise activities. Under "Seva Setu Abhiyan - Sarkar Aapke Dwar," cooperation camps will be held at the panchayat level. The campaign closes with a National Innovation Challenge, a national rangoli event, and an attempt by 125,000 elected representatives - from ward members to MPs - to collectively sing all six stanzas of Vande Mataram, the national song, for a world record, said Kumar. Patna Sahib MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP has formed the Central government three times running and would do so a fourth time in 2029, adding that unseating Modi had become the Congress's "sole objective."...