Reports coming in from Bihar are enthusing the anti-NDA parties as they feel the BJP has not succeeded so far in making a dent in the support base of the Grand Secular Alliance, while forward castes h
Reports coming in from Bihar are enthusing the anti-NDA parties as they feel the BJP has not succeeded so far in making a dent in the support base of the Grand Secular Alliance, while forward castes have become passive after the saffron party played the backward caste card in the current battle.
As the third phase of polling for the Bihar Assembly got over on Wednesday, parties were analysing the trends reflected so far. If the BJP’s attack on RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s “jungle raj” has consolidated the Muslim-Yadav combination, its “development card” has not weakened chief minister Nitish Kumar, they claimed.
The BJP began its campaign on the development plank but it could not work due to the Dadri lynching, beef eating, cow slaughter issues in the campaign, besides the reservation issue and attacks on dalits in Haryana.
While the BJP sympathisers in Bihar feel that “it is a neck-and-neck fight’, others feel that the grand alliance, consisting of the JD(U), RJD and the Congress, has an edge.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Wednesday claimed that the grand alliance will win the Assembly elections with a clear majority. “Mahagatbandhan ko 2/3 ka bahumat milega (grand alliance will get 2/3rd majority in the Assembly),” Congress spokesperson Pramod Tewari claimed. While taking strong exception to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “three idiots” remarks against his detractors in Bihar polls, he accused him of stooping to unprecedented low levels. “In the post-Independence era, no Prime Minister has stooped to such low levels of indecency with respect to a sitting chief minister,” Mr Tewari told reporters. Noting that Mr Modi has only belittled the office of the Prime Minister by using such language, he said the Congress will never stoop to such low levels in replying to the indecent remarks. He also targeted BJP president Amit Shah insisting that his campaign style was not much different from Mr Modi.
In his campaign speeches, Mr Modi had Tuesday launched a blistering attack on the grand alliance of JD-U-RJD-Congress likening it to “3 idiots”.
Hitting back at Mr Modi for targeting Mrs Sonia Gandhi Mr Tewari said the Prime
Minister has given a new definition of silence by keeping mum on the Lalit Modi controversy and the Vyapam scam and the PDS scam in Chhattisgarh.
Mr Tewari also utilised the occasion to counter Mr Modi’s criticism of Mr Nitish Kumar’s good governance claims.
He wanted the Prime Minister to realise that the Niti Aayog set by him has given three skill development programmes of the Nitish government including one named after Dashrath Manjhi as best in their respective category.
“The Niti Aayog is the brain child of the Prime Minister which has hailed the schemes of the Nitish government. While the Prime Minister does not have the habit of speaking the truth, it would be better if he tells people about the honour received by the state government,” he said.
