Union home minister Amit Shah reached Patna late on Saturday evening and held talks with the BJP functionaries and allies to chalk out strategy for upcoming Bihar polls.
New Delhi:Union home minister Amit Shah reached Patna late on Saturday evening and held talks with the BJP functionaries and allies to chalk out strategy for upcoming Bihar polls. Meanwhile, in another outreach ahead of the year-end Assembly polls, BJP chief J.P. Nadda said that the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar's rule has pulled back the state from the "jungle raj" and "doobta Bihar" days of Lalu Yadav’s RJD government.
On the first day of his two-day visit, Mr Shah attended two meetings after reaching Patna late on Saturday evening. While in the first meeting, Mr Shah discussed the party’s poll preparedness with the BJP’s MPs, MLAs and state unit office bearers; in the second meeting he held discussions with the Bihar BJP core committee.
On Sunday, the Union home minister will lay the foundation stone and dedicate several development projects worth `800 crores in Patna, followed by a public meeting in Gopalganj. Later in the evening he will discuss poll strategy with the NDA partners.
Meanwhile, in the national capital, addressing a "Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, Sneh Milan" programme as part of the Bihar Foundation Day celebrations organised by the Delhi BJP's Purvanchal Morcha, Mr Nadda said that Bihar came out of darkness under Mr Kumar's rule and witnessed progress under the leadership of Mr Modi. He praised the state and said that Bihar has a special aura and dynamism and that it gave democracy to the world and Nalanda and Vikramshila were great places of learning.
“Even in present times, students from Bihar studied in large numbers at the Delhi University colleges. Many professors from the state are known globally for their academic prowess,” the BJP president said.
Mr Nadda noted that around the 1970s, Bihar was a progressing state, but it turned into "doobta (declining) Bihar" under the Lalu raj. “It was difficult to venture out after sunset in Patna during those days," he said, referring to the RJD rule under Mr Yadav's chief ministership during the 1990s.
The BJP president stated that doctors were forced to flee the state and new vehicles were forcefully taken out from showrooms for wedding parties.
Taking a dig at RJD leader and former deputy chief minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav, Mr Nadda said that some people say there was no "jungle raj" in Bihar because they "were not born at that time."
Listing Bihar's progress under the double-engine NDA government, the BJP president said that the state had just 384 km of rural roads in 2005, which has now expanded to over 1.12-lakh km.
The BJP president listed the setting up of the Indian Institute of Technology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institute of Mass Communication and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in the state and announced that Patna Medical College is going to be the biggest hospital in Asia.
Referring to the party's win in the recent Delhi Assembly elections, Mr Nadda said that the people of Delhi defeated the AAP government, which was obstructing development in the state and elected the BJP, which is dedicated to development.
“Before our government came to power in Delhi, there was an 'AAPda' government for 10 years, during which there was a time of amavasya. There was an atmosphere of darkness due to which Delhi was not moving on the path of development but towards destruction.
"In such a situation, under the leadership of Modi Ji, the people voted for a BJP government in Delhi, which led to a new direction and a bright future," Mr Nadda said.
The BJP president stated that soon Bihar Assembly elections are also going to be held, in which the NDA alliance under the leadership of Mr Modi will form a government with a huge majority with the blessings of the people. Post that, the pace of Bihar development will accelerate.
Eyeing another term for the BJP-led NDA government in Bihar, the saffron party is leaving no stone unturned to return to power by winning over 200 seats with alliance partners in the 243-member Assembly. To achieve the target, the alliance has already put in motion a multi-pronged strategy by delving into the caste cauldron of the state, including a mass awareness campaign — Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, Sneh Milan programme across the country to mark the Bihar Foundation Day.
