PM MODI LEADS NDA CHARGE, SAYS BIHAR CHOOSES PROGRESS OVER JUNGLE RAJ

PM Narendra Modi on Friday vowed to end Bihar's “jungle raj” and drive a new era of prosperity under the NDA.

- ANAND SINGH/TDG NETWORK

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar mounted a concerted attack on the Mahagathbandhan in a day of high-octane campaigning across Bihar on Friday, accusing the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress of dynastic politics, poor governance and misleading voters, even as RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav hit back with charges of corruption, unemployment and “outsider” control over the state's politics.

Addressing rallies in Samastipur and Begusarai, Modi alleged the opposition alliance had “set new records of lies” before Bihar’s youth and warned that “law and order cannot exist where a party like the RJD is in power”. He reprised the BJP’s longstanding “jungle raj” charge, listing extortion, ransom, murder and kidnapping during past RJD regimes and asserting that Dalits and extremely backward classes were denied access to justice. He said Naxalism had once afflicted “more than one and a half dozen districts” but claimed the NDA had “broken the back” of Maoist terror and vowed it would be eradicated nationwide.

Underscoring his development pitch, the Prime Minister said central allocations to Bihar under the BJP-led government had tripled compared to the Congress era, citing work on a six-lane highway from Samastipur to Purnea, new rail lines including Vande Bharat services, and power projects. “We transformed ‘jungle raj’ into good governance. Now the time has come to transform good governance into prosperity,” he told the Begusarai crowd, adding that under Nitish Kumar’s leadership the NDA would “break all previous records” and secure its “biggest ever mandate”.