PM Modi ridicules Opposition, says RJD ‘coerced’ Congress on CM face in Bihar

Just four days before the first phase of Assembly elections in Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (November 2) ridiculed the state’s Opposition alliance, saying the Congress was in no mood to accept the RJD's Tejashwi Yadav as the Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial face but agreed at "gunpoint".

Also read | NDA double standard: Fielding ‘bahubalis’ while condemning RJD’s ‘jungle raj’

“RJD ne Congress ki kanpatti par katta rakhkar CM pad chura liya,” Modi declared, alleging that in Bihar’s “band kamra” (closed rooms), a power play had unfolded days before the state was scheduled to go into polls.“Katta” is an unlicenced country-made gun.

The prime minister, who attended a series of rallies in the poll-bound state’s Bhojpur and Nawada districts, also spoke about the RJD’s alleged indulgence in strong-arm tactics and its troubled equations with constituents of the Grand Alliance. The RJD is the main Opposition party in Bihar.

'RJD can never do good'

“The Congress never wanted to announce the chief ministerial candidate in favour of the RJD. The RJD secured it by placing a 'katta' on the head of the Congress. They have learnt their lessons in the school of 'jungle raj'. Such elements can never do good for Bihar,” Modi said, a few days after a supporter of the Jan Suraaj Party of Prashant Kishor was murdered in Mokama and the NDA government in Bihar, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, came under fire from the Opposition.

Also read: Why Dularchand Yadav's murder has become a flashpoint of Bihar polls

PM Modi claimed the Congress wanted to see the RJD getting defeated in Bihar and told people that the two Opposition parties would fight between themselves after the second and final phase of polling got over on November 11.

Takes dig at Tejashwi, Rahul

Targeting Tejashwi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi indirectly, Modi said, “The crown prince of 'jungle raj' has been wary that the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' of the other 'yuvraaj' may be denting his own prospects. Hence, the RJD has put up its candidate against the state president of the Congress. Let the polls be over. The two allies will be breaking each other’s heads.”

The PM’s allusion was to the reserved Kutumba seat, where the RJD had reportedly planned to field a candidate against sitting MLA and state Congress president Rajesh Kumar. Although the RJD decided against doing so, the two allies have ended up in "friendly fights" at several places.

Also read: Bihar: JD(U) candidate Anant Singh, 2 others held for Dularchand Yadav’s murder

Modi, who predicted a "record victory" for the ruling NDA in these polls, said it would continue providing a government that was "upright" and "foresighted" and build a "developed Bihar" that was necessary for "Viksit Bharat". He mocked the Opposition, saying they would face the “worst drubbing in history" as “the people of Bihar have not forgotten the ‘jungle raaj’."

Rakes up Operation Sindoor

The PM also mentioned other issues in his speech, including Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, to target the Congress. "We said that while his government was fulfilling the promise of beating the terrorists in their own den and the operation made the country proud, the royal family of Congress was losing sleep."

Also read: How Tejashwi’s pitch for change is getting drowned in flood fury, dissent in RJD citadel

“Dhamake Pakistan mein ho rahe the, Congress ke ‘shahi parivar’ ki neend ud jaati thi (explosions were happening in Pakistan but it was the Congress's royal family which was losing sleep),” he said.

He said neither Pakistan nor the Congress has recovered from the shock the military operation inflicted.

He said both the RJD and Congress care about “just two families – one most corrupt in Bihar and another the most corrupt in the country”.

(With agency inputs)