26-second presser, Nitish not allowed to speak: Congress takes jibe at NDA's Bihar manifesto launch

Patna/New Delhi, Oct 31 (PTI) Taking a dig at the NDA over its manifesto launch for the upcoming Bihar polls, the Congress claimed on Friday that the ruling alliance leaders wrapped up their press conference in "just 26 seconds" as they know that they are not returning to power and therefore, facing the public's questions "felt like a waste of time to them".

The opposition party also pointed out that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not utter a single word at the presser and said "it is possible that he himself has not even read his manifesto properly".

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said just a few days ago, while listing the achievements of the NDA government in Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said young people are making reels on social media by taking advantage of cheap data.

Perhaps taking inspiration from the statement, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders in Bihar wrapped up their press conference in Patna to launch the election manifesto in just 26 seconds, Ramesh said.

"In fact, it is not really their fault either -- in the last 20 years, they had nothing worthwhile to count in the name of achievement. They also know very well that they are not returning to power after the election, so discussing the manifesto and facing the public's questions felt like a waste of time to them," the Congress leader said.

"The chief minister did not utter a single word either. It is possible that he himself has not even read his manifesto properly, so he just formally went through the motions somehow and left immediately," Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X.

Earlier in the day, the Congress slammed NDA leaders for "not allowing" Kumar to speak at the release of the ruling coalition's manifesto for the upcoming Assembly polls, claiming that it was "an insult to Bihar".

Talking to reporters in Patna, senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot claimed that the NDA's manifesto-release programme lasted only "26 seconds", as the leaders were afraid of facing questions from journalists about their 20-year rule in Bihar.

Kumar, his deputy Samrat Choudhary, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Chirag Paswan and other NDA leaders released the manifesto in less than a minute.

All of them then left the venue, except the deputy chief minister who stayed back and answered a few questions from journalists.

An announcement was made from the dais that the leaders had to leave as they had poll-related engagements.

"The NDA leaders came to a press conference that lasted merely 26 seconds. They were afraid to face questions from journalists on the manifesto as well as on their governance," Gehlot said.

The chief minister was "not allowed" to speak at the release of the manifesto, he claimed and wondered whether Kumar was "not in a position" to talk about it.

In the manifesto, the NDA has promised jobs to one crore youngsters, making one crore "Lakhpathi Didi", metro services in four more cities and seven international airports in Bihar, among other things.

Polling in Bihar is scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, with the counting of votes to be taken up on November 14.

The opposition INDIA bloc, which has the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and Left parties as the main constituents, has declared RJD's Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate. PTI ASK SUK RC