RJD to counter BJP’s raths with ‘tumtums’: Lalu Prasad Yadav

The BJP party’s campaigning for Bihar Assembly polls will be launched by BJP President Amit Shah by rolling out 160 “raths” (chariots) today which will fan out in different directions and traverse the length and breadth of the state. He also castigated Nitish saying the 15 years” RJD rule was nothing less than a “duhswapna (nightmare)’ for the people of Bihar.

Taking a dig at Nitish for not putting up the pictures of Lalu in his campaign posters, Shah said that he knew that the RJD president was not an asset for his alliance. He claimed that it was the BJP that gave the maximum number of OBC chief ministers and the first OBC prime minister – Narendra Modi. He said the PM’s July 25 meeting has also been called “parivartan” rally.

Equipped with modern tools like Global Positioning System and large screen LED screens, the so-called 260 “raths” will go around the state for the next 100 days to drum up support for the NDA while also trying to expose the current administration of its failures.

BJP president Amit Shah will launch his party’s campaign on 16 July. “We want to tell the people what BJP will do to develop Bihar”, the BJP leader said. He can never be forgiven for disrespecting the mandate of the people of Bihar that had voted for the NDA in both 2005 and 2010 state polls and not just for the JD-U.

While painting a dim picture of secular alliance of Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Congress, Shah highlighted the performance of Modi government in past one year which he said would be repeated in Bihar too by the future NDA government. He reiterated his charge against Nitish that the CM had abandoned the plank of anti-Congressism practised by Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) and former CM Karpoori Thakur. “The Bihar assembly elections are crucial for the country”.

Summoned NDA cadres sat fidgety from the rain under an extended canopy; the NDA pantheon sat rapt behind Shah – aspiring chief minister Sushil Modi, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan, the BJP’s Bihar election in charge Anant Kumar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Giriraj Singh, Shahnawaz Hussein.