Nitish Kumar face of NDA alliance in Bihar, says Nadda
Expressing confidence that the NDA will emerge victorious in the Bihar assembly polls, BJP president J P Nadda on Sunday (August 23) said all the three NDA constituents in Bihar — the BJP, the JD(U) and the LJP — would together fight the elections in the state with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the face of the alliance.
Nadda’s remarks at a virtual address to the Bihar BJP executive meeting come amid a bitter war of words between Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and Chirag Paswan-headed Lok Janshakti Party. Whenever the three parties have fought together, their National Democratic Alliance has notched up a big victory, he said.
The coming polls will be the first time when the three parties fight together in an assembly election after their superlative show by winning all but one seat in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha election as allies. “We are going to the polls under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Our victory is certain,” Nadda said.
While Chirag Paswan has often questioned the Nitish Kumar-led state government over a host of issues, the BJP has done the balancing act and maintained that the ruling NDA is intact in the state. It has also been endorsing Kumar as the alliance’s chief ministerial face.
In his address from the national capital where he was joined by several Union ministers elected from Bihar, Nadda also claimed that the opposition in the state as well as elsewhere has become a “spent force” and asserted that the BJP is the only party which is being looked at by people with hope.
The opposition has neither ideology nor vision nor any spirit to serve people, and it can’t rise above petty politics, he added. He praised the Bihar government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and floods in the state, while noting that the assembly elections are expected at a time when the state faces the twin challenges.
The Election Commission is yet to announce the election schedule, but there have been indications that it will be held on time. The assembly elections in the state are due in October-November. Nadda asked party leaders to organise small meetings and door-to-door campaign in line with the COVID guidelines while preparing for the polls.
(With inputs from agencies)
