Virtually kicking off a joint campaign for the assambly polls in Bihar slated for the year end, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his LJP counterpart Ramvilas Paswan on Friday accused the ruling NDA of unleashing 'a reign of corruption and terror in the state'.
"Today's meeting marks the beginning of end of the NDA rule synonymous with a reign of corruption and terror," the two leaders told a gathering at Sigheshwar in Madhepura district.
Referring to the Patna High Court order for a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the execution of development and welfare schemes in Bihar between 2002-2003 and 2007-2008, Paswan said though the tenure of the Nitish Kumar government was almost at an end "We are sure that the chief minister and his deputy S K Modi will be jailed for their complicity in the loot of public funds."
"All pervasive corruption prevails in Bihar which is gripped by anarchy and chaos ... Bureaucracy has taken control over the system and no development is visible," Prasad said and accused Kumar of 'cheating and befooling' the people in the name of development and changing Bihar's image. "Kumar made tall promises for more than four years but failed to fulfil them ... Not a single industry has come up in Bihar during the period," he alleged. He asked the people not to vote for Congress either as "Voting Congress will mean voting for BJP and Nitish."
"Both Congress and NDA are two faces of the same coin and people should be cautious while voting this time," the RJD strongman said dubbing the Congress as 'vote katua (vote cutter)'. Later at Narpatganj in Araria district the two leaders assailed the Nitish Kumar government for allegedly 'fooling the minorities'.
"The CM has done nothing but dirty politics and has tried to fool minorities," Prasad said adding both Centre and the state government were responsible for the plight of the minorities.
Prasad said if the RJD-LJP combine came to power in the state it would strive for the uplift of minorities and seek implementation of the reports of Sachar committee and Ranganath Mishra commission.
Paswan said he had committed a 'big blunder' by snapping ties with RJD in 2005 which paved the way for Nitish Kumar. "The RJD-LJP alliance is firm this time and it is set to rid the people of the state of the corrupt, ineffective and incompetent Nitish regime." Terming the NDA as 'anti-people and anti-minorities' and alleged that both the state and central governments were equally responsible for the price spiral. PTI
