Janata Dal (United) National Working President Sanjay Kumar Jha launched a sharp attack on the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) on Monday, criticizing their Chief Ministerial candidate, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, for his controversial statement regarding the Waqf (Amendment) Act.
Tejashwi Yadav had earlier vowed that if the opposition alliance comes to power in Bihar, they would “throw the Waqf (Amendment) Act into the dustbin.”
Slamming the remark, Jha emphasized the sanctity of a central law. “When this Bill came, our party suggested that a JPC should be formed. JPC was formed, and then the Bill was passed with a recommendation. A law is a law. No one can say that we will throw the law here and there… The day will not come when he will throw the law,” Jha told ANI.
JDU Mocks Mahagathbandhan’s Portfolio Distribution
In a further dig at the opposition alliance, the JDU leader took a swipe at the Mahagathbandhan for presumptuously planning their cabinet even before the voting process concluded.
“They are distributing portfolios in such a way as if they have formed the government. Elections have not even taken place, and they have started distributing cabinets among themselves,” Jha remarked, underscoring the premature nature of the opposition’s preparations.
The Mahagathbandhan has already declared RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as its CM face for the Bihar Assembly polls, also naming Mukesh Sahani of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) as the Deputy CM candidate.
Prashant Kishor Predicts Three-Way Fight
Meanwhile, political strategist-turned-politician and founder of the Jan Suraaj movement, Prashant Kishor, reiterated his prediction that the Mahagathbandhan will finish third in the upcoming polls.
Kishor asserted that the primary electoral battle in the state is between the ruling NDA (National Democratic Alliance) and his nascent Jan Suraaj party.
“We are visiting every assembly constituency. Mahagathbandhan is in the third position. The fight is between NDA and Jan Suraaj,” Prashant Kishor told ANI, dismissing the announcements made by Tejashwi Yadav in the past few days as being without “any sense at all.”
Earlier on Sunday, while speaking at an election rally in Madhubani, the Jan Suraaj founder claimed that Bihar’s voters are moving beyond the 30-year-old cycle of “fear-driven choices” between the Nitish Kumar-BJP and the Lalu Yadav-RJD camps. He projected Jan Suraaj as a “leaderless, caste-neutral alternative focused on Bihar’s youth.”
“A new alternative is emerging in Bihar, and that alternative does not belong to any leader, any family, or caste… It belongs to the children of Bihar. If the Jan Suraaj Party government is formed, no one will have to leave the state for livelihood,” he promised.
The election for the 243-seat Bihar Assembly is scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and November 11, with the results declared on November 14.