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'He may be chief minister, but sooner or later he will face the music.'
Bhai Virendar, an outspoken senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, is confident that the Mahagathbandhan will take on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's government.
"We may have lost the floor test, but won the heart of people. It will be reflected in the Lok Sabha polls," Bhai Virendar tells Rediff.com Senior Contributor M I Khan.
Why did your party, the RJD, fail to execute the much publicised 'khela' (game) during the trust vote on February 12?
What we meant by khela was to take advantage of the unhappiness among ruling MLAs about their own newly formed NDA government. We expected support from some of them.
Not less than half a dozen JD-U MLAs were absent at their party meetings ahead of the trust vote. But the NDA used its resources and the administration to force them to follow its diktat.
Did the RJD missed an opportunity to play 'khela'?
Koi chuk nahi (There was no mistake). We were not doing anything to buy support.
The NDA was involved in horse trading and fully utilised its resources and power to ensure the numbers in its favour.
They took away three of our MLAs. The NDA played Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed to win the trust vote.
The NDA won the trust vote, but we won the hearts of the people.
People decide in seconds and minutes to support a party, so we didn't lose, we won
The NDA saved its government, but Tejashwi Yadav has emerged the real winner among the people.
The dominant view across the state is that Nitish Kumar has lost the political battle despite winning the trust vote.
He may be chief minister, but sooner or later he will face the music.
How will the Mahagathbandan challenge the Nitish Kumar government?
We will fight on the ground on the issue of providing jobs to jobless. Our party and Mahagathbandhan leaders and workers will stand with jobless youth demanding jobs and struggling for jobs.
There are several issues that directly hit the people including education, health, rising prices and law and order.
We distributed nearly 4 lakh government jobs in Bihar during the 17 months of the Mahagathbandhan government.
What about the failed declaration of providing 2 crore jobs per year by the BJP-led central government? Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior BJP leaders keep mum over it.
But the NDA claims it is pursuing the politics of development.
The BJP has nothing to do with development, they are playing politics in the name of religion.
Their old tested agenda is a Hindu-Muslim divide to polarise people. They are spreading hatred and creating communal trouble.
Lalu Prasad Yadav has not been active in politics.
Laluji may be old and weak, unlike what he used to be in the past, but he is active and a master strategist of the party.
He is not strong physically, but mentally fully healthy, alert and stable. Laluji closely monitorly everything and keeps a watch on each development.
How you see Tejashwi's future?
The coming years belong to Tejashwi and the Mahagathbandhan. Tejashwi is in the hearts of people, he has made a special place by worki1ng hard to fulfill promises.
People have faith in him, which is a big asset for a leader.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com