Cong chief rubbishes claims of NDA victory in Bihar, cites '400-plus rhetoric' ahead of LS polls

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday rubbished Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah's predictions of the NDA’s victory in the Bihar assembly polls, pointing out that their “400 plus” claim in the Lok Sabha elections was way off the mark.

He spoke to PTI Video in Gaya, where he insisted that ''all was not well'' in the BJP-led coalition, as there were doubts that Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president and longest-serving chief minister, would be backed for another term in office.

''The Prime Minister can say anything. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, they kept saying 400 paar,'' said Kharge, pointing to the performance of the BJP in last year’s general elections, when it fell short of a majority and became dependent on allies like JD(U) and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP for survival in power.

When his attention was drawn to the fact that Shah, the most trusted aide of Modi and the BJP’s principal strategist, has been claiming that the NDA’s tally in the 243-strong Bihar assembly could be ''160 plus'', the Congress president said, ''I would again say you keep in mind their boast of 400 paar which came a cropper.'' The octogenarian bristled at the Prime Minister’s repeated claim that the Congress was reluctant to name RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as the INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial candidate but relented when a 'katta' (unlicensed, country-made pistol) was placed on its head.

“Nobody can scare us. Not even the Prime Minister. And the 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) will come to power in Bihar. He (Modi) should tell us whether Trump had put a 'katta' on his head,'' Kharge claimed.

The allusion was to repeated claims of the US President that India had agreed to halt military conflict with Pakistan, earlier this year, upon his intervention.

Kharge also asked, “Why is it that Modi and Shah have not yet declared Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate? They cannot claim that the NDA will return to power with no agreement even on leadership”.

In a separate conversation with PTI video, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal also cast doubts over claims of victory, with 160 plus seats, in Bihar by Modi and Shah.

He asked, ''How do they know? Are they astrologers? They can be sure only if they are up to some mischief. And that is what our leader Rahul Gandhi has been trying to underscore through the campaign against vote chori.'' Both Kharge and Venugopal claimed that the manifesto of the INDIA bloc was a ''bundle of lies''.

Kharge said, “Modi should be reminded of his rhetoric in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when he came to power, promising two crore jobs every year and bringing back black money stashed abroad. Those were blatant lies.'' Venugopal said, ''When we came up with our guarantees for people ahead of Karnataka polls, the entire BJP machinery accused us of ruining the economy. Now, realising that pro-people measures yield votes, as these did for us in Karnataka and Telangana, they are trying to offer freebies''.

Both leaders exuded confidence that the opposition coalition, including their party, would do well in the Bihar elections.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Patna, the party's chairman for media and publicity Pawan Khera claimed, “We (INDIA bloc) will win at least 72 out of the 121 seats which went to polls in the first phase”.

Khera said that it was “a conservative estimate” drawn on the basis of an assessment done by the Congress and its allies.

Reacting to the 'katta' jibe, Khera said Nitish Kumar ''should take a cue and try securing chief ministership for himself by placing a 'katta' on the BJP’s head''.

He also said, ''The BJP keeps accusing us of 'jungle raj'. On the day of the first phase of polls, the convoy of Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha was attacked. There cannot be bigger evidence for 'jungle raj' prevailing under NDA rule in Bihar.'' Khera also alleged that Shah, who has been staying in Bihar for the past few days, was “secretly meeting government officials in the lift of his hotel, ''a reason why pieces of paper have been pasted on the CCTV cameras''.

''But he should know that the officials, whom they consider loyal to themselves, have sensed the winds of change. They spill the beans before us,'' claimed Khera.