Under Nitish Kumar, NDA will break all electoral records in Bihar: PM Modi at Samastipur rally

In his first public remarks endorsing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the leader of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said this time the coalition would break all past records of victory under the leadership of the JDU chief.

Launching Bihar poll campaign from Samastipur, the ancestral land of former Bihar CM and socialist icon Karpuri Thakur, Modi said, “This time under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, the NDA is going to break all past records of victory.”

With this statement, Modi put to rest all speculation around the role of Nitish in the NDA.

Giving the poll slogans “Phir ek baar Sushasan sarkar” and “Nai raftaar se chalega Bihar, jab phir aayegi NDA sarkar”, PM Modi also took swipes at the RJD, the largest constituent of the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance.

”Jungle raaj waalon ko door rakhega Bihar (Bihar will keep the perpetuators of jungle raj at bay”, he said in reference to the term often used for the 1990 to 2005 rule of Lalu Prasad-led RJD in Bihar.

Describing himself, Nitish Kumar and Karpuri Thakur’s son Ramnath Thakur—all seated on the dais—as backward people, Modi credited the late CM for advancing the interests of the under privileged.

”Hum jaise pichhdey aur gareeb parivaron se nikle log is manch pe khaden hain (Backward people like me, Nitish ji, Ramnath Thakur ji are all standing on this dais today because of the pro-poor policies of Bharat Ratna Karpuri Thakur),” Modi said, recalling the conferment of the Bharat Ratna award on Karpuri Thakur last year.

Modi attacked the RJD and the Congress for corruption and said leaders of both parties were out on bail in multi-crore scam cases.

The PM also took veiled swipes at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi whom his party people address as “Jananayak”.

”Now, these people are also stealing the term Jananayak, which is used to describe Karpuri Thakur. Bihar will not tolerate this insult of Jananayak Karpuri Thakur,” he said.

The PM also said Bihar would break all records of NDA victory this time.

He mentioned the recent NDA and BJP wins in Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, UP and Uttarakhand to say that the “good governance NDA alliance” had set new benchmarks of pro-incumbency.

He said Bihar will follow the same pattern.

Bihar will vote in two phases on November 6 and 11.

Results will be out on November 14.