Battle for poll-bound Bihar intensifies a day ahead of start of filing of nominations

Patna, Oct 9 (PTI) The battle for poll-bound Bihar intensified on Thursday when the Congress came out with a "charge-sheet" against the ruling NDA, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav made a fresh, alluring promise of government jobs, and the Jan Suraaj Party released its first list of candidates.

With just one day left for filing of nominations to commence, the fledgling party floated by former political strategist Prashant Kishor claimed to have stolen a march over NDA and INDIA bloc, the two main competitors, both of which were still busy thrashing out a seat-sharing deal.

Releasing a list of 51 candidates, one of them a transgender from a reserved constituency, the party's national president Uday Singh said "the next list will be out in a day or two" but did not reveal whether the party's feted founder will himself enter the fray.

Kishor had said that if he contested, his seat would be either his birthplace of Kargahar, from where the party has given ticket to Bhojpuri singer Ritesh Pandey, or Raghopur, the pocketborough of Tejashwi Yadav, for which candidate was yet to be announced.

Nonetheless, Singh added, cryptically, "Kishor will hit the campaign trail from Raghopur on October 11. It will be known in the course of time whether he will himself be the candidate or not".

Yadav, who at the age of 35 aims at a hat-trick from the seat, in the past represented by his father and mother Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, announced at a press conference that if the INDIA bloc, which his party helms in Bihar, came to power, "we will bring an Act, within 20 days, to ensure that within 20 months every household has a member with a government job".

Yadav pointed out that during his brief stint as the deputy chief minister, he was able to go half way through on the promise of 10 lakh jobs made in 2020, slamming his ex-boss Nitish Kumar for failure to deliver on employment generation.

The announcement was hailed by ally Congress. Talking to PTI video, Congress legislative party leader Shakil Ahmed Khan said, "It does not need to be seen as a promise made only by the RJD. Job creation is a crying need for Bihar and Tejashwi Yadav has shown sensitivity towards it".

However, Neeraj Kumar, MLC and spokesperson of the JD(U), headed by the chief minister, termed the promise as "anti-constitutional".

"Tejashwi Yadav would have done well to go through the report of the caste survey according to which there are 2.76 crore families in Bihar. During Nitish Kumar's rule alone, 50 lakh people have got jobs. These recruitments took place on merit and there is no provision in the constitution under which an Act, as promised by Tejashwi, can be brought," said the JD(U) leader.

Meanwhile, top leaders of the Congress like Jairam Ramesh, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Singh Baghel and Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary flew down to the state capital to release a 42-page-long "charge-sheet" accusing the NDA of having brought "destruction" to Bihar.

Evocatively titled "bees saal vinaash kaal", the document alleged that in the 20 years of its rule in the state, "through remote controls in Delhi and Nagpur", the BJP-led coalition had pushed the state backwards in terms of development markers but made it a top ranker in crime and corruption.

Meanwhile, state BJP president denied that the NDA was grappling with seat-sharing woes, asserting "top leaders of all constituents are in touch. The final decision is not going to be taken on the soil of Bihar. But in two-three days, everything will be made public".

Earlier, state Congress president Rajesh Kumar had also claimed that the party had finalised its candidates "in consultation with allies" and hoped that "in a day or two", the INDIA bloc, which was to make room for new entrants like JMM and RLJP, will announce its seat-sharing formula. PTI SUK PKD NAC NN