‘Bihar is land of Buddha’: BJP blasts INDIA Bloc on govt jobs poll promise

New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) The BJP launched a blistering attack at the INDIA Bloc (RJD-Cong-Left alliance) on Wednesday, over its “impractical” and “unrealistic” poll promises and sops in the run-up to the Bihar elections and also termed its “parivaarvad” culture as a hindrance to the state’s progress.

BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, in a press briefing, taunted the grand alliance over its failure to strike a poll deal and reach a consensus on its Chief Ministerial face.

“Those who raised false alarm over vote chori in Bihar electoral rolls are unable to finalise their seat-sharing formula. They haven’t been able to reach a consensus on – nominating candidates, finalising their CM face, holding joint press conferences, releasing a common poll manifesto,” the BJP spokesperson pointed out.

Trivedi also took potshots at Tejashwi Yadav’s over-the-top poll promises for the people of the state, including government jobs to every family and explained the state’s financial condition to call out his bluff.

“Tejashwi Yadav’s poll promises amount to making a mockery of the electoral process. He promised 1 government job to every family. Bihar’s current population is a little above 13 crore, and about 23 lakh people are government employees. Going by his measure, about 3 crore permanent government jobs will need to be created, and this would entail an expense of about Rs 10 lakh crore,” he told the press.

“Bihar’s budget is just Rs 3.17 lakh crore, how can one expect to get this fulfilled?” he asked, while warning the mahagathbandhan of not taking people for granted.

“This is a land of Lord Buddha, don’t try to fool the people of Bihar. This is my appeal to Tejashwi and the INDI bloc,” said the BJP leader.

Highlighting the emancipation of women under the NDA dispensation, Trivedi said when the Nitish government was formed, the women's literacy rate in the state stood barely at 33 per cent, and this has now risen to 77 per cent.”

He further said, “Lakhpati Didi, Drone Didi, Sukanya Samridhi scheme are empowering women for a decade now. A methodical, consistent and pragmatic approach under the double-engine government is yielding results for people of all categories; however, the Opposition is trying to damage these achievements by making false and highly inflated promises.”

When questioned on the new entrant, Jan Suraaj, in the electoral battle, he said that the time was not right for supporting any experimental politics and also cited the example of Delhi, where people got ‘befooled and betrayed’ by a party which emerged from the womb of the anti-corruption movement.

“Any new experimental politics can be detrimental. Bihar voters do understand this. Only a tried and tested leadership under Nitish Kumar can ensure that Bihar’s developmental journey continues,” he remarked.

Sudhanshu Trivedi also lashed out at RJD over 'promoting its family' at the cost of the electorate and also falsely 'positioning' itself as the champion of backward caste and classes.

“Parivaarvad runs deep into the RJD ranks. Lalu is the RJD president, Tejashwi is the leader of the Opposition, while Rabri Devi is the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council. This itself shows how much they care for the backward community,” he pointed out.

He also invoked Lalu’s old poll slogan – “Don’t cast your vote, vote your caste,” questioning the party’s tall claims of clean and progressive politics.

“Any sensible person can understand that they are hurling crude jokes at the electorate,” he added.

Accusing the RJD of shielding crime as well as criminals, he said that when Lalu Prasad Yadav came to power in the 1990s, it was on the back of an anti-graft crusade, but today the same yardstick has gone against him, making him ineligible to contest in the current elections.

--IANS

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