The Congress has yet to come out with a election manifesto for the Bihar Assembly at a time when the campaigning for the first phase of polls set to end on Tuesday. But the party is confident of its victory, declaring that the BJP and the LJP would be the losers in the electoral battle.
Mr Satyendra Kumar Sinha, the in-charge of the Congress control room at its state headquarters in Patna, on Monday told this newspaper that a manifesto has not been released. But it may come out on Tuesday. A voting for the first phase will be held on October 21.
Explaining the ground-level situation in Bihar, he predicted that the real fight would ultimately be between the Janata Dal (U) and the Congress.
“The BJP and the LJP would be big losers in the election, The Ram Vilas Paswan-led party will confine to single digit numbers while the BJP will get 10 to 15 seats,” he predicted, saying that the Lau Prasad Yadav-led RJD will be placed to a third position.
However, the Congress position would be improved tremendously and it can win 70 to 75 seats, claimed Mr Sinha. Mr Sinha added: “The Congress will not compromise on the chief minister’s post. It will be our chief minister.” Asked will he or she will be a Muslim, he said: “Yes.”
Mr Sinha, an advocate by profession, clarified that political parties selected candidates on the basis of social justice but they are playing the development card during the campaigning. “Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are the crowd-pullers. Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit will be campaigning on Tuesday. But CWG is not an issue in Bihar,” he said.
In New Delhi, AICC officials, claiming victory of the party, hinted that it can win even 80 seats on its own. In Patna, senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said his party would seek Congress support in any attempt to form the government in the event of a hung Assembly in the coming polls. “We will see what comes up after the elections. In the event of the RJD-LJP alliance falling short of majority, it will approach the Congress and other secular parties for support,” he said. Meanwhile, the AICC went ballistic against chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav holding them squarely responsible for the plight of Bihar.
It targeted Mr Kumar for his criticism of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the use of Central funds by the state government.