Ahead of 2025 Bihar Assembly polls, RJD and NDA flex muscles in Patna

Patna: Bihar's ruling NDA and the principal opposition party RJD made competing claims of victory on Friday, ahead of the state assembly polls due next year.

These assertions were made at simultaneous functions in the state capital - one by the BJP to felicitate Union ministers from Bihar, and the other to celebrate the 28th anniversary of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

At the NDA function, leaders of the BJP and its alliance partners pledged support to help JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar secure another term in office.

In contrast, RJD de facto leader Tejashwi Yadav, son of founding president Lalu Prasad, claimed that the people of Bihar were "fed up" with the "tired" ruling combine that has mostly held power over the past two decades, except for brief periods of discord between BJP and JD(U).

Yadav also speculated about the possibility of early polls, asserting, "Be it in December this year or in November next year when elections are due, the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan will form the next government."

He pointed out that the RJD, which emerged as the single largest party in 2020, a year after drawing a blank in Lok Sabha polls, was better placed this time with four seats in Parliament's lower house and a lead in more than 70 assembly segments in the recently held general elections.

At the NDA function, state BJP president and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary expressed hope that the coalition would surpass its 2010 record when the JD(U)-BJP combine won more than 200 seats in the 243-strong assembly.

Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, alias 'Lalan' and a former JD(U) president, stressed the need for the coalition to "get aggressive instead of being defensive" in rebutting the opposition's charge that the BJP-led coalition posed a threat to the Constitution.

Lalan said the Congress, an alliance partner of the RJD and leader of the INDIA bloc, must be "exposed" to the younger generation unaware of the Emergency's excesses and the 2005 assembly dissolution, which the Supreme Court later declared unlawful, preventing the NDA from forming a government in Bihar.

Conversely, Yadav argued that the state government appeared "tired," was frequently embarrassed by numerous bridge collapses, and that the public was yearning for change.

He also charged the JD(U), "on which the Narendra Modi government at the Centre depends for its survival", with failure to secure special status for Bihar and protect hike in quotas by placing amended reservation laws in the ninth schedule of the Constitution.

Yadav, who served as Deputy CM for 17 months when Nitish Kumar was out of the NDA, took full credit for large-scale recruitments in government departments during that period, noting, "The historic Gandhi Maidan, known primarily for political rallies, became the venue for handing over appointment letters to young men and women."

However, Samrat Choudhary, who succeeded Yadav as Deputy CM, claimed, "The 6.5 lakh government jobs given so far were all approved under previous NDA governments. The Chief Minister has approved another 12 lakh appointments."

Yadav, currently the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, announced at the RJD function that he would embark on a state-wide tour in August to garner public support for his party and mobilise party cadres.

He urged party members to remain battle-ready and capitalise on the momentum generated during the Lok Sabha polls, which the NDA won, albeit with BJP falling short of a majority and Prime Minister Narendra Modi "at his weakest."