The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Tuesday rejected the Lok Sabha poll results and said a committee of senior party leaders would investigate and tell the people how the BJP had conspired to hijack their votes.

“We do not accept the mandate of the Lok Sabha polls because it has been achieved through conspiracy by those whose public meetings during the elections did not attract people, and who moved around with long faces on the prospect of suffering a defeat,” senior RJD leader Jagadanand Singh said.

Jagadanand was speaking after attending the election review meeting chaired by Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Prasad’s younger son who had led the party’s campaign in the absence of the RJD chief who is under arrest.

All the RJD candidates participated, as did the party’s state chief Ram Chandra Purbey, general secretary Alok Mehta and other senior leaders.

“Our party has full faith in Tejashwi’s leadership. He has infused enthusiasm among the youths in the state. We will maintain it till the 2020 Assembly elections under the guidance of our party chief Lalu Prasad,” Jagadanand said.

The RJD leader added that the Grand Alliance, which includes the Congress, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular and Vikassheel Insan Party, stood united.

The party had contested 19 seats out of the total 40 in the state — the rest were contested by the allies — but could not win even a single seat, turning in its worst performance since its inception in 1997.

Purbey said Jagdanand would head the committee to probe the BJP’s poll “conspiracy”. Senior leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Mehta would be its other members. The committee will submit its report within a week.

Purbey also asserted that the Grand Alliance was united although many senior Congress leaders, including its legislature party leader Sadanand Singh, have openly questioned the RJD’s negative role in seat distribution and campaigning.

The RJD itself has been witnessing friction between Tejashwi and his elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav.

Senior RJD leaders avoided answering questions on Tej Pratap’s alleged anti-party activities, which led to the defeat of Jehanabad candidate Surendra Yadav by a slender margin of 1,751 votes.

Tej Pratap, who did not attend the review meeting called by Tejashwi, wrote an open letter to party workers clarifying that he had demanded

just two tickets to allot them to able candidates. He said those who distributed tickets and contested elections should own responsibility for the defeat.

Later, Tej Pratap absolved Tejashwi of any responsibility for the defeat, and said he will always stand by his younger brother and that both will contest the 2020 Assembly elections together.