Hitting out at the lalu-Nitish poll alliance in Bihar, the BJP on Thursday charged their leaders with “destroying and insulting” legacy of socialist stalwart Ram Manohar lohia, who was the first to initiate the Congress hato, Desh bachao movement” in the country.
Speaking at the ‘Panch Kranti’ programme organised here by the BJP’s youth wing on the occasion of the 65th birth anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the pro-BJP “social chemistry” of 2014 polls is back in Bihar where opponents of yesteryears have ganged-up to oppose the BJP.
BJP’s youth wing president Anurag Thakur, Union Ministers Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mahesh Sharma and S Sonowal, BJP general secretary (organisation) Ram lal, general secretary (Hqrs) Arun Singh and BJP State president Satish Upadhyay attended the function.
Predicting a clear win for the party in the October-November Bihar Assembly elections, Jaitley recollected that a doubt was also being created during 2014 poll campaign that the BJP would “not get support across the country.”
Some ‘Mathematics’ was bandied about and projections were made that in some cases gave only around 100 odd seats for the party. “But as it happened it was not Mathematics but a changed Chemistry that transformed the ground realties in favour of the BJP with youth of the country gyrating towards the party.”
The same chemistry, the BJP strategist said, played out in Haryana (first time BJP Government), Maharashtra (first time BJP-led Govt) and Jammu & Kashmir where the party received unprecedented electoral support.
Jaitley said the same is happening in the context of Bihar elections where “the ground chemistry has changed” in support of the BJP. “Ye yatra.. badle huye mijaz ka swabhav batatee hain”…(this journey, thus far, tells the story of a changed perspective of people), he said.
lashing out at what he called an alliance of contradictory ideologies and individuals in Bihar, the BJP leader said Congress president Sonia Gandhi is sitting with Nitish Kumar and lalu Prasad though Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi was against Mandal politics which is being sought to be brought back by the leaders of the so called grand alliance.
He said the RJD and the JDU leaders were “insulting and destroying” lohia’s legacy which was clearly anti-Congress since 1962. “But today lohia supporters go to AICCI office,” Jaitley quipped.
The BJP leader lambasted 25 years of rule of Nitish Kumar and lalu Prasad in Bihar, which he said, pushed the State backward to the 21st rank in the list of development with Gujarat attaining the first position.
Taking on the Congress, the Finance Minister said “one family” ran a Government on the lines of a company model with a board of directors and a CEO and finished democracy during emergency for “family’s sake”. “Though Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister, power was only with the family,” he said.
Jaitley said the family is not reconciled to losing power and blocking Parliament, not allowing good laws to be passed and stalling the economic progress of the country. In Bihar, he said Congress is seen as a party who “also ran” with Congress President as a speaker playing the role of “a crowd collector” in ‘Mahagathbandan’ rallies in the poll-bound Bihar.