Ahead of 2025 Bihar Assembly polls, RJD & NDA flex muscles in Patna

Patna: Bihar’s ruling NDA and the principal opposition party RJD made competing claims of victory on Friday, ahead of the state Assembly polls due next year.

These assertions were made at simultaneous functions in the state capital - one by the BJP to felicitate Union ministers from Bihar, and the other to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

At the NDA function, leaders of the BJP and its alliance partners pledged support to help JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar secure another term in office.

In contrast, RJD de facto leader Tejashwi Yadav, son of founding president Lalu Prasad, claimed that the people of Bihar were “fed up” with the “tired” ruling combine that has mostly held power over the past two decades, except for brief periods of discord between BJP and JD(U).

Yadav also speculated about the possibility of early polls, asserting, “Be it in December this year or in November next year when elections are due, the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan will form the next government.”

He pointed out that the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which emerged as the single largest party in 2020, a year after drawing a blank in Lok Sabha election, was better placed this time

with four seats in the Parliament’s lower house and a lead in more than 70 Assembly segments in the recently held general elections.