“Nitish Kumar dashed the dreams of mentor Jayprakash Narayan as well socialist leader Karpoori Thakur by joining hands with the Congress for the sake of power,” Shah said at an NDA rally at the historic Gandhi Maidan before flagging off ‘Parivartan Rath’ in several parts of the state.
Taking a dig at Kumar, Shah said: “What did you do with George Fernandes and Jitan Ram Manjhi?” Charging Kumar with “backstabbing” the mandate of people given to NDA in 2010 elections, Shah took potshots at him for joining hands with arch rival Lalu Prasad Yadav for the sake of power.
The NDA rally showed a picture of unity with top leaders of the constituents present on stage. Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president and Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan, former Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) supremo Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) leader and Union Minister of State Upendra Kushwaha, Union Minister Ananth Kumar and several BJP leaders of the state as well of national level were present.
Shah flagged off 160 rath (chariot), which he addressed as ‘Dhoot’ (representative of PM Narendra Modi), which would roll across Bihar spreading message of development under the NDA at the Centre and also “expose” the “unholy” alliance between Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.
While painting a dim picture of secular alliance of Kumar, Yadav and Congress, Shah highlighted the performance of the Modi government in the past one year, which he said would be repeated in Bihar too by the future NDA government.
Shah made a blistering attack at Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav, claiming that Kumar avoids his photograph in state hoardings, while Congress president Sonia Gandhi shuns him. “Still he (Lalu) considers himself a leader of the alliance,” he sarcastically commented on the RJD chief.
Shah wondered if Kumar wanted to bring back days of “jungle raj” in Bihar, by joining hands with Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose 15-year rule was “remembered for bad law and order situation”.
Indicating that PM Modi and the performance of his government in past one year would be the poll plank of the NDA in Bihar elections, Shah talked about Modi’s background as a tea seller and hailing from extremely backward caste. “While some leaders would try to whip up caste and communal tension, remedy of all ills of Bihar is in ‘vikas’ (development) for which NDA government is needed in the state,” he said.
He appealed to the people to give an opportunity to NDA in Bihar as they did for the Centre to “make Bihar number one state in the country.”
Shah repeated MP’s slogan of “Congress mukt Bharat” and claimed that Bihar would be another destination after Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and J&K in the process.
Attacking the Bihar CM, Shah said “...how much efforts you (Kumar) make to put as many posters you want and remove ones of PM and BJP, but when ballot would be counted NDA would be in position to form government.” He said Narendra Modi would unveil the future roadmap of Bihar development “when he would address a rally at Muzaffarpur on July 25”.
Shah stressed that Bihar polls are very important as its effect would not be limited to the state, but spread across the country “as a message to uproot all forces opposed to dalits, poor and downtrodden.”
Shah appealed to people to ensure NDA wins more than 185 seats in September-October Assembly elections and forms a strong government. Flagging off 160 raths (chariots) christened ‘Parivartan rath’, Shah said these would be increased to 260 soon to reach out to every village in the state.
In the 243-member Assembly, 122 is the magic figure for forming the government.
Shah referred to NDA winning 13 out of 24 seats in recent Legislative Council polls and asserted that “people have made it clear which way the wind is blowing.” Earlier, Union Minister and LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan described the pact between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad as “Lathbandhan” (alliance of warring forces). “Both are hugging each other by holding daggers in their hands to stab each other,” he said. To buttress his charge, he said that JD(U) has lost Legislative Council seats in Patna, Saran and Madhubani “because of rebel Yadav candidates having background in RJD”.