14/24 victory in Bihar: BJP says it will also “sweep” assembly polls

Patna

With the BJP led NDA set to win 14 out of the 24 Bihar Legislative Council seats, the BJP today exuded confidence that it will “sweep” the assembly polls too riding on “mounting anger against the JD(U) government for its failure on all fronts”.

Senior BJP leaders – Sushil Kumar Modi, Leader of Opposition in the assembly Nandkishore Yadav and its Bihar chief Mangal Pandey held a joint press conference and thanked the voters for giving a “landslide” mandate in favour of the NDA candidates.

Sushil Modi said his party’s stand that the legislative council poll was the semifinal before the assembly polls has seen victory by the electorate spread over 43,000 villagers in Bihar.

“The outcome of legislative council polls is a clear reflection of accumulated anger among the people against the JD(U) government and more so against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,” he said adding the groundswell of support in favour of NDA bodes well for it in the coming assembly polls.

Describing the trends and results of the legislative council polls as significant in many ways, Modi said the voters (1,38,904) not only represented local bodies, but also the cross-section of the society comprising dalits, mahadalits, backward caste and extremely backward castes, besides women. “They have collectively rejected the secular alliance and reposed faith in the NDA to deliver the goods.” 

Sushil Modi charged the JD(U) government with misusing official machinery to coerce voters to support the candidates of ‘secular’ alliance and said all its “strong arm tactics” had failed this time.

“This portends bad for its (JD-U’s) prospects in the assembly polls and its days in power were numbered,” he claimed.

As results and trends of 24 legislative council seats poured in indicting a victory for BJP, its leaders and workers gathered at the party office at Veer Chand Patel Path here and burst into celebrations by distributing sweets and bursting firecrackers.

NDA is set to win 14 seats against ten by the secular alliance.

Modi asked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to eat his words for making the council polls a prestige issue.

Kumar had made the council polls a prestige issue by going for nomination of a JD(U) candidate in Muzaffarpur, something which he has not done in the past decade, he said.

He also trashed the Chief Minister’s campaign themes ‘Parcha Pe Charcha’ (discussion over leaflet), ‘Chaupal’ (village meeting) and ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ (knocking at the doors of the people) and putting up posters on hoardings and bill boards.

“Publicity alone does not translate into success,” he said and added that BJP will step up campaigning for the assembly polls by taking along its allies LJP, RLSP and Hindustani Awam Party (Secular) of former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

All NDA constituents will participate in the joint campaigning for the assembly polls to ensure the BJP-led coalition’s victory at the hustings, Sushil Modi said.

BJP state unit president Mangal Pandey and Leader of Opposition in legislative assembly Nandkishore Yadav echoed similar views on NDA’s impressive performance in the council polls and described it as “rejection” of the JD(U) government and secular alliance by the people.

They also appealed to the voters to keep their trust in NDA during the assembly polls to take Bihar on the path of development and prosperity.

PTI