BJP slams Nitish for joining hands with 'jungle raj' RJD

Amid chalking out plans for its Mission 175 for the Bihar Assembly polls due next year, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday threw a challenge to former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to dissolve the House.

BJP was ready to tackle the ‘jungleraj-2’ that has gripped the state because of the alliance between Janata Dal-United and Rashtriya Janata Dal, the party said. “Nitish Kumar has betrayed the mandate given by the public against the jungleraj-1 of RJD. He has allied with Lalu Prasad and jungleraj-2 has set in. The law and order situation has worsened and people are thinking that old, lawless days have come,” said Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.

“I challenge Kumar to dissolve the Assembly and face fresh elections. He and Prasad are together, but it’s no problem for us. We destroyed jungleraj-1, we will decimate jungleraj-2 as well,” said Modi while addressing the final session of the two-day state party executive meeting.

Modi asked party workers to gear up for mid-term assembly elections as JD-U) is facing a severe rebellion from within and the government may fall anytime.

Criticising the state government, Modi said development of Bihar has stalled with no new industry coming in the last 15 months and proposals worth Rs 5 lakh crore going away as land was not available.

The former deputy CM said the people should see for themselves whether the state government is capable of handling the special package and status as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They should give a chance to the BJP now as they have seen the rule of Congress, RJD and JD-U.

Taking potshots at Kumar for alleging that the BJP is destroying ‘Brand Bihar’, Pradhan said, “He himself has shook hands with the ‘jungle raj party’ and is responsible for destroying the image of the state.”

Meanwhile, BJP’s state unit president Mangal Pandey said the Assembly bypolls to 10 seats on August 21 remains the party’s ‘top priority’ right now. “Prepare for the by-elections in 10 Assembly seats as they have been declared. Winning them is our top priority and challenge as it will strengthen the party in future in the state,” Pandey said while addressing the meeting.

“We will launch a ‘save Bihar campaign’ on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya on September 25. It will continue till Jayaprakash Narayan’s birth anniversary on October 11. Our workers will hold at least three meetings in every panchayat during this campaign,” added Pandey.