Bihar’s ruling JD(U) and the BJP on Sunday claimed to be reaching “total victory” as the six-phase Assembly polls in the state neared to the end with the last two remaining phases to be held shortly. But the mood in the main Opposition alliance RJD-LJP was equally upbeat.
As campaigning for the fifth phase of polls for 35 constituencies ended on Sunday, BJP MP and national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said Bihar’s people were voting to re-elect the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar and that the RJD-LJP may even lose its status as the Opposition party. “The very thought of the RJD-LJP coming back to power makes voters feel like Gabbar will come back,” he said, likening the RJD-LJP to the vicious villain in popular Bollywood film Sholay.
“We (NDA) are moving towards total victory. The people do not want to bring back the terror regime of the RJD-LJP. These polls have also proved that all he anti-BJP propaganda of our opponents had no effect on the electorate. The walls erected between the Muslims and the BJP got spontaneously pulled down in these polls,” said Hussain.
Mr Hussain, a former Union civil aviation minister and now MP from Bhagalpur, said the BJP’s pro-minority initiatives as part of Bihar’s NDA government were wholeheartedly welcomed by the Muslims. “The BJP supported the welfare programmes for the Muslims not in a manner of doing a favour to the community but as a duty to the people,” said Mr Hussain.
JD(U) MP and national spokesman of the party Shivanand Tiwary said he would retire from politics if former chief minister Rabri Devi of the RJD won in the two constituencies where she has contested this time. “The people have understood the fruits of development by a government that has a clear vision for the welfare of all communities,” he said.