Patna (Bihar) [India], November 14 : Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha on Friday launched a sharp attack on the opposition, claiming that the Mahagathbandhan has been "rejected" by the people of Bihar and will struggle to return to power even in the next 10 or 20 years unless RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav "changes his pattern".
Speaking to reporters, Kushwaha said Tejashwi Yadav and his party need a complete behavioural shift if they hope to form a government in the next decade. "I want to tell Tejashwi Yadav that if he wants to come to power in the next 10 or 20 years, he will have to change his pattern. He and his people's behaviour will have to change."
On the Opposition's blaming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls for their poor performance, Kushwaha said, "SIR wasn't an issue at all. They should be aware of the ground reality. The people of Bihar have rejected them, and they have created such a face in Bihar that they were bound to be rejected by the people of Bihar."
Accusing the RJD of making "statements that the public hates," Kushwaha said, "By making statements that the public hates, the opposition, the RJD, wants to deceive the public. They cannot deceive the people of Bihar in that way. On one hand, our government is doing so much good work, and on the other hand, these people want to come to power by making baseless statements and inciting public sentiment. This is not possible."
In the current trends, the Nitish Kumar-led NDA is leading in a combined total of 203 seats, with BJP leading in 93, JDU in 82, LJP 19, HAM 5 and RLM 4 as per data from the EC at 4:30 pm. RJD leads in 27 seats, Congress leads in 5, CPI(ML) lead 2, while CPI-M 1 each, taking the total to 35. Additionally, the BSP leads in one seat, and the AIMIM in five seats.
Earlier today, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, terming the party a "deceit" and blaming the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) for trends predicting Mahagathbandhan's dismal loss in the Bihar elections.
He termed the SIR as an "electoral conspiracy", asserting that after Bihar, it won't be possible in other states, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh or any other state.
"The game that the SIR played in Bihar will no longer be possible in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh or anywhere else, because this electoral conspiracy has now been exposed. From now on, we will not let them play this game. Just like CCTV, our 'PPTV' -- meaning 'PDA Prahari' -- will stay alert and foil the BJP's intentions. The BJP is not a party, it is a deceit (BJP dal nahi chhal hai)," Yadav wrote on 'X'.
Congress leader Udit Raj also blamed the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists for his party's poor performance. He claimed that many objections raised about discrepancies in the voter lists were ignored, calling it a "murder of democracy," and said the results reflect the SIR process rather than a BJP-JD(U) victory.
Speaking to ANI in Patna, Udit Raj said, "SIR is leading. I won't say that this victory is of the BJP-JD(U); this is a victory of the Election Commission, of SIR. After the voter list was sanitised, lakhs of discrepancies were pointed out, but the EC didn't respond to even one. When objections were being raised, 89 lakh objections were raised. Still, EC said that nobody is raising any complaint. When they stoop to this level of cheating, what can we say? This is murder of democracy..."
"If you delete the names of Opposition voters and send back thousands of voters despite them having digital slips...there was a wave of change in Bihar...BJP leaders were chased away by people at several locations. So, how are they winning? I feel this is a victory of SIR," he said.
Earlier, in a post on X, Udit Raj wrote, "SIR is moving towards victory (SIR jeet ki taraf badh rahi hai)."