The Aryavarth Express
Agency (New Delhi): RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav remarked on Monday that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s recent blunder, where he wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi another term as “chief minister,” reflects a “sense of imminent defeat” within the NDA camp.
Yadav was addressing Nitish Kumar’s slip-up during an election rally in the Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday. Nitish, the Janata Dal (U) chief, mistakenly wished Modi, who served as Gujarat’s Chief Minister before becoming Prime Minister, to become mukhya mantri (chief minister) again. Other leaders on stage noticed the error, prompting Nitish to correct his statement.
“Dil ki baat zubaan pe aa jaati hai (what’s on the mind slips out of the mouth). What the CM said is correct… Modiji is not going to become PM again,” Yadav said during a rally in Jagdishpur, where he shared the stage with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Our respected chachaji (uncle) wants the BJP out of power at the Centre so Bihar can develop without bias. We are continuing his campaign. Nitishji used to say those who came in fourteen (2014) will go in twenty-four (2024)… Modi-led NDA will be completely routed,” Yadav declared.
Other leaders from the INDIA bloc, including Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) Liberation general-secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahni, also participated in rallies with Rahul Gandhi in Bihar.
Responding to PM Modi’s recent comments about “looted Bihar,” Yadav asserted, “The people of Bihar are not afraid of anyone. A 73-year-old man (Modi) is threatening a 34-year-old youth with jail. People of Bihar are not afraid of the people of Gujarat… our Lord Krishna was born in jail.”
During a rally in Bihar last week, PM Modi had promised that the NDA government would not spare those who looted the state. “The NDA government will not spare those who looted Bihar. I guarantee the people of Bihar that those who looted the poor and took land in exchange for jobs will face justice. The countdown for their jail journey has begun. Once their helicopter rides end, their prison terms will start. This is Modi ki guarantee,” Modi stated.
In response, Yadav retorted, “He (PM) is coming here and threatening to send us to jail… is he above the courts? This proves that agencies work according to him. This person has destroyed all the government institutions. His dictatorship will last only till 4 June (the day Lok Sabha election results are to be declared).”