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At Purnia rally, Nitish, Lalu vow to wipe out BJP in 2024 polls
Kumar, in his speech, underlined the need for larger opposition unity in the country to fight the BJP and reiterated that Congress should take a call on leading the opposition front soon.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Saturday called for opposition unity to fight the BJP-led NDA in the 2024 parliamentary elections, at the Ekjutata (unity) rally in Purnia sponsored by all seven parties that support the ruling alliance in the state.
Kumar, in his speech, underlined the need for larger opposition unity in the country to fight the BJP and reiterated that Congress should take a call on leading the opposition front soon.
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“But the Congress will have to take a quick decision in this regard. If you (Congress) accept my suggestion, we can restrict the saffron party to under 100 seats. If there is delay , you all know who it would benefit,” Kumar said.
Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav accused BJP of only spreading hatred and taking no concrete steps to address issues like unemployment, inflation and farm problems.
In his first speech after his kidney transplant operation, RJD chief Prasad, who addressed the rally in virtual mode from Delhi, accused the BJP of being against minorities and stressed that the grand alliance in Bihar was committed to ousting BJP form power in the crucial 2024 parliamentary polls.
The rally was a first show of strength by the seven-party coalition after coming to power in Bihar in August 2022 and is seen as a precursor to the campaign for next year’s parliamentary polls and an attempt to consolidate the vote base of RJD and Nitish Kumar’s JD-U in Seemanchal, an area with significant Muslim population where AIMIM has made big inroads in the past few years.
The RJD chief recalled how he had stopped BJP leader L K Advani’s rath Yatra in 1990. “BJP and RSS are against minorities and weaker sections of the society... We (the grand alliance) will wipe out BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha and 2025 assembly polls,” a frail-looking Prasad said.
“We keep saying Hindu, Hindu, Hindu...We are Hindus...but what is the crime of minorities that you are trying to marginalise them? I won’t let them succeed in any case,” Yadav said, adding that it is time for the “departure of the Narendra Modi government”.
Calling Seemanchal the “most secular” region, the RJD leader called upon people to remain united and identify those trying to mislead them. “Both BJP and RSS are against reservation and are trying to change the Constitution and end reservation,” Prasad alleged. “Our fight is with the ideology of RSS. BJP is following the instructions of RSS,” he said.
Prasad also mentioned about his health condition, saying the surgery was successful due to prayers of people and highlighted how he owes his second daughter Rohini Archarya, who donated her kidney to him.
In his speech, CM Kumar emphasized that his only goal was to work for unifying the opposition to unseat the saffron party from power. “I will keep trying to make it a reality,” he said.
Kumar said Amit Shah wanted to impose Gujarat model in Bihar, which has failed. “The BJP needs to be wiped out from the entire country,” he said.
Kumar also said the Centre had a game plan to give Seemanchal the status of a Union Territory. “But we are united now and can’t allow it to happen.”
The chief minister termed AIMIM a “B team” of BJP and said the party wanted to divide Muslims. “Out of their five MLAs, four have come with us,” he said, without mentioning the name of the party.
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Kumar said BJP has always tried to divide the mahagathbandhan. Pointing at former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, he said they (BJP leaders) were trying to influence him too.
In his speech, Tejaswi Yadav said the fight against BJP had started from Bihar and it would spread in the whole country and would uproot BJP in 2024.
Bihar Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh declared Rahul Gandhi as the top leader of his party and raised the issue of seat sharing in Bihar.
He, however, said Congress is firmly united with mahagathbandhan under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.
CPI-ML general secretary Deepankar Bhattacharya raised the issues related to labourers and farmers in his speech and said though his party was not in the government, they would continue to raise such issues. He also assured full support to mahagathbandhan under Nitish Kumar.
( with inputs from PTI)
