→PM insulted our soldiers when he said nobody intruded: Rahul
PATNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first day of campaigning in Bihar on Friday enthused both the Janata Dal (United) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), two parties lockedinabitterfeudsincethelatter decided to fight the assembly elections on its own, but for different reasons.
LJP chief Chirag Paswan thanked PM, who began his rally in Rohtas by paying tributes to Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who died on October 8. “The PM comes to Bihar and pays tribute to my father as a true friend. It made me emotional when he said that he was with my father till the last breath. As a son it felt nice to see this affection of the PM for my father. Thanks to the PM,” said Paswan, who has described himself as a devotee of the PM and whose party continues to be a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre.
In his speech, Modi did not name Paswan but referred to the “confusion” being sought to be created by some people .“but there is a good trait among Biharis and that is clarity. They don’t get confused,” he said.
The JD(U) said the PM said enough to show Paswan the writing on the wall. “He clearly mentioned who are the partners in the NDA. By paying rich tribute to Ram Vilas Paswan, the PM underlined that what Chirag has been doing is sharp contrast to his father’ s character. Allthe bjp leaders have clearly said time and again that Chirag is out and Nitish Kumar is the NDA’S CM candidate and after PM’S address, there is no confusion. If Chirag wants to continue with his one-sided love for the BJP, that will put a full stop to his brand of politics,” said JD(U) spokesman Rajiv Ranjan.
The LJP walked out of the NDA in Bihar on October 4, and has trained its guns on the JD(U) since then. Paswan has criticised chief minister Nitish Kumar at election rallies and the party, which is contesting 137 of the state’s 243 constituencies, has fielded candidates against the JD(U) in several seats. The LJP has also given tickets to several former BJP leaders.
Political analyst Shaibal Gupta of the Asian Development Research Institute said it was hard to tell how much PM’S rallies cleared the air on the LJP. “If any perception gets rooted, it is not easy to remove it. But one thing that seems likely at this stage is that the electoral contest may be close this time, as Tejaswhi Prasad Yadav of the RJD has been able to draw good crowd at his rallies.”
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Ow a is is aid :“the pm did not me ntionljp. He maybe trying to sail in two boats to create room for abj pled government in Bihar.”