With Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar drawing crowds ahead of the coming Assembly polls, the ruling BJP has mobilised its prominent leaders along with those of its NDA allies to project unity as well as counter a possible consolidation of the Opposition’s support base.
Rahul’s Yatra, joined by RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, has amplified his “vote chori” allegations against the Election Commission (EC) and BJP, sharpening the Opposition INDIA bloc’s attack against the EC’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
Some BJP leaders fear the SIR has “not yielded any advantage to the NDA either”, and may have led to “the deletion of many NDA voters” from the draft rolls. “There are barely any families which are unruffled by the exercise. The SIR along with the Waqf amendment legislation (passed by Parliament during the Budget Session) have consolidated the Muslim-Yadav base for the RJD and the Congress,” a senior Bihar BJP leader said.
The BJP also seems to be concerned over the increasing attacks on its state leadership by Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) chief Prashant Kishor over alleged irregularities and corruption in various cases.
In recent weeks, Kishor has targeted three top state BJP leaders — including its Bihar president Dilip Kumar Jaiswal, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Health Minister Mangal Pandey.
Rahul Gandhi with party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during the Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar. (Photo: PTI)
Kishor has accused Jaiswal of taking control of a Sikh institution, Mata Gujri Medical (MGM) College, in Kishanganj fraudulently. Targeting Samrat, the JSP supremo has alleged that his educational records were forged, while he has accused Mangal Pandey of being involved in an ambulance scam, charging that his ministry purchased 466 ambulances at an “inflated” price of Rs 28 lakh each, while other states procured them at lower rates.
The BJP has rejected the allegations as baseless and unfounded. And the party leadership is confident that “a massive campaign by the united NDA, and projection of the clean and honest leadership of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar could negate any damages”, sources familiar with the Bihar party affairs said.
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For this reason, the BJP has assigned a slew of senior leaders and national spokespersons from Bihar – including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Shahnawaz Hussain, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjay Jaiswal, Guru Prakash and Ajay Alok – to hold press conferences in all 38 districts of the state.
The party has also formed 14 NDA teams to conduct outreach programmes, including meetings and processions, across the state’s 243 Assembly constituencies. “These Vidhan Sabha sammelans would set the stage for showcasing the NDA’s united face. There have been specific instructions from the central leadership that all these meetings should have every NDA leader concerned in every constituency. There have to be flags of our allies at such meetings. We believe that these events, highlighting the achievements and schemes of both Central and state governments, would dilute the advantages, if any, gained by the INDIA bloc campaign,” said a party insider.
Some BJP leaders admitted that they “did not foresee” Rahul’s Yatra drawing such crowds. Another party leader attributed the INDIA bloc’s campaign gaining traction to “the BJP’s weakness”.
“The Yatra has been a crowd-puller because we were lagging behind. Despite having Modi ji and Nitish as the faces of our leadership, we may have lost some moral ground due to Kishor’s allegations, which sought to discredit our state leaders. So when our workers rake up Lalu Prasad’s ‘chara ghotala’ (fodder scam), people question us over ambulance scam. Rahul Gandhi is getting advantage because of these factors,” said a BJP MP. “The corruption allegations have hurt our biggest USP – the image of corruption-free governance – thereby complicating what could have otherwise an easy election win,” said a party leader.
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Another BJP leader pointed out that while the Yadav and Muslim communities seemed to have again rallied round the RJD-Congress, “there are indications that some Dalit groups are also drawing closer to the INDIA bloc”. Besides, he added, “the SIR exercise does not seem to have resulted in removal of (only) illegal migrants from the voters’ list”.
However, some senior BJP leaders denied that Rahul’s Yatra and the Opposition’s campaign against the SIR have damaged the NDA’s prospects in the Assembly polls which are barely a few months away.
“There have been two biggest vote thefts in Indian history – one was by Tejashwi’s father (Lalu Prasad), who used to snatch ballot papers during 1990-2000 in Bihar. The second one is when Rahul Gandhi’s great grandfather (Jawaharlal Nehru) got B R Ambedkar defeated by 14,000 votes (in Bombay North Central in the 1952 Lok Sabha polls). People don’t forget all these things,” said Sanjay Jaiswal, ex-state BJP chief.
Shahnawaz Hussain, a former minister, refuted the claims that Rahul’s Yatra was attracting huge crowds. “It’s not a concern for us. The crowd you see for Rahul Gandhi includes the ticket-seekers of the Congress and RJD. Common people have rejected them and it’s just a workers’ yatra. When Rahul does gimmicks like going to makhana (fox nut) farmers, he should realise that they are aware of what Modi ji has done for them,” he said.
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Hussain also said the “confusion” among INDIA bloc parties over the leadership issue could also undermine its prospects. “When Rahul was asked whether Tejashwi was their CM candidate in the Bihar polls, he ducked those questions. So, RJD supporters feel that the Yatra is just meant for enhancing Rahul Gandhi’s stature,” he added.