Cong chief rubbishes claims of NDA victory in Bihar, cites '400-paar rhetoric' ahead of LS polls

Gaya/Patna, Nov 8 (PTI) Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday rubbished Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah's predictions of the NDA’s victory in the Bihar assembly polls, pointing out that their “400 plus” claim in the Lok Sabha elections was way off the mark.

He spoke to PTI Video in Gaya, where he insisted that "all was not well" in the BJP-led coalition, as there were doubts that Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president and longest-serving chief minister, would be backed for another term in office.

"The Prime Minister can say anything. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, they kept saying 400 paar," said Kharge, pointing to the performance of the BJP in last year’s general elections, when it fell short of a majority and became dependent on allies like JD(U) and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP for survival in power.

When his attention was drawn to the fact that Shah, the most trusted aide of Modi and the BJP’s principal strategist, has been claiming that the NDA’s tally in the 243-strong Bihar assembly could be “160 plus”, the Congress president said, “I would again say you keep in mind their boast of 400 paar which came a cropper." The octogenarian bristled at the Prime Minister’s repeated claim that the Congress was reluctant to name RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as the INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial candidate but relented when a 'katta' (unlicensed, country-made pistol) was placed on its head.

“Nobody can scare us. Not even the Prime Minister. And the 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) will come to power in Bihar. He (Modi) should tell us whether Trump had put a 'katta' on his head," Kharge claimed.

The allusion was to repeated claims of the US President that India had agreed to halt military conflict with Pakistan, earlier this year, upon his intervention.

Kharge also asked, “Why is it that Modi and Shah have not yet declared Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate? They cannot claim that the NDA will return to power with no agreement even on leadership”.

In a separate conversation with PTI video, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal also cast doubts over claims of victory, with 160 plus seats, in Bihar by Modi and Shah.

He said, "How do they know? Are they astrologers? They can be sure only if they are up to some mischief. And that is what our leader Rahul Gandhi has been trying to underscore through the campaign against vote chori”.

Both Kharge and Venugopal of Modi’s claimed that the manifesto of the INDIA bloc was a "bundle of lies".

Kharge said, “Modi should be reminded of his rhetoric in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when he came to power, promising two crore jobs every year and bringing back black money stashed abroad. Those were blatant lies." PTI NAC BDC