Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said his Janata Dal (United), along with the National Democratic Alliance, will win more than 200 of the total 243 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, PTI reported. He made the claim while addressing a meeting of party workers at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on the occasion of his 69th birthday.
At the party meeting, Kumar extolled the work done by his government towards the development of Bihar, saying he was confident of winning another term. “Law and order has improved and the ratio of crimes to population is among the lowest in the country in Bihar,” he added. “We will contest Bihar Assembly elections with NDA and win more than 200 seats.”
The chief minister also attacked the Opposition, saying that while the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress only focus on minority appeasement for votes, the JD(U) has worked for their upliftment. Kumar then introduced his party slogan for this year’s election campaign – “2020 (Do hazaar bees), phir se Nitish” – a takedown of the RJD’s “2020 finish Nitish” – at the meeting.
The JD(U) chief also underscored the work done by the government in the state in ensuring justice to the victims of Bhagalpur riots of 1989, saying the JD(U)-BJP alliance had brought the guilty to book. The meeting was attended by party’s booth presidents and secretaries from across Bihar.
Recently, the Bihar Assembly passed a resolution against the implementation of the proposed National Register of Citizens. The Assembly also passed a resolution to implement the National Population Register the way it was done in 2010-2011 with an amendment. All the 54 Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in the Assembly also voted in favour of the resolution.
At the meeting, Kumar reiterated his position about the NPR. “The NPR it will be on the basis of 2010 format and we have also passed the resolution in the State Legislative Assembly,” he said. As far as the Citizenship Amendment Act is concerned, Kumar asked his party members to exhibit patience on the matter in order to avoid controversies since the issue is pending in the Supreme Court.
Earlier on Thursday, the Bihar Assembly also passed a resolution in favour of implementing a nationwide caste-based census. House Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary made the announcement during the pre-lunch session of the Assembly.
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