Dumped yet again by Nitish Kumar in Bihar, the BJP is readying its arsenal against the new alliance of JD(U), RJD and Congress again joining forces, and will attack the new government on the issue of corruption, law and order and abuse of the public mandate in the 2020 state elections.
Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal in a brief statement said Nitish Kumar had “betrayed Bihar people and the BJP” as the 2020 polls were fought together under the NDA and the mandate was for the JD-U and BJP. “We won more seats despite that, Nitish Kumar was made the CM,” Jaiswal said.
A senior BJP leader who has looked closely at Bihar told News18 that Kumar leaving the NDA showed his worry over the growing footprint of the BJP in the state and the party now has the licence to go whole hog in Bihar on all the 243 assembly and 40 Lok Sabha seats. “There is a silver lining in this cloud. Kumar’s move shows that BJP is the strongest party in Bihar right now and the one to beat for any other alliance. Nitish Kumar will get his answer first in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Bihar and then the 2025 Bihar assembly elections,” the BJP leader told News18.
BJP leaders will term Kumar’s move as an abuse of the public mandate of 2019 elections and as one to merely remain in power. The party will also be drumming up the issue of corruption and law and order, especially as RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav is expected to get back his earlier post of Deputy CM and the Home portfolio. “People have not forgotten the dark days of lawlessness under the RJD regime under Lalu Prasad for 15 years. Law and order was an issue in Bihar even during the two years RJD and JD(U) ran the government from 2015 and 2017,” a second BJP leader told News18.
BJP will also attack the new alliance on the issue of corruption. Nitish Kumar had cited his ‘non-corruption plank’ in July 2017 to pull out of an alliance with the Lalu Prasad-led RJD, which was in power and join hands overnight with the BJP to remain the Bihar Chief Minister. The charges then were against Tejashwi Yadav. Five years later, the corruption taint against RJD has intriguingly only deepened. Lalu Prasad now stands convicted in five fodder scam cases, with four of those convictions coming since July 2017.
BJP leaders said they always went the “extra mile to accommodate” Nitish Kumar, like the equitable seat distribution in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar despite BJP being a stronger party, declaring Kumar as the Chief Ministerial face in the 2020 Assembly elections and remaining true to its promise of Nitish becoming the CM though JD(U) got far less seats than the BJP. “Still he has back-stabbed us. The people are watching and will repose their faith in Narendra Modi and BJP that wants to take Bihar on the path of development,” a BJP leader said.
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