PATNA: The Congress in Bihar feels BJP's downfall in the state was just comeuppance for its attempts to oust the grand old party from national politics and "engineering defections" in Maharashtra.
Lashing out at the saffron camp, Bihar Congress in-charge Bhakta Charan Das on Wednesday quipped that "BJP-mukt Bihar" is the new message that has been sent out to people.
Speaking to a television channel on Wednesday, Das said that Congress has always been a sturdy pillar, when it came to the progress of the nation, freedom of the country and its recognition.
"The saffron party wants to wipe out all smaller parties. It wants to establish just one party in India (BJP), one colour, and one religion," Das claimed.
Asked if the speaker of the new 'Mahagathbandhan' Bihar government will be from the Congress, which has 19 MLAs in the Assembly, Das said "whatever will happen, will happen for the good".
"Yesterday I had said that history was in the making. This is indeed a historic achievement. Bihar has sent out the message of BJP-mukt Bihar," he said.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and MP Jairam Ramesh, in a tweet, said that Bihar was 'no operation lotus?', "No cash caught. No ED raids. No Assam CM. No resort travel. All done in characteristic Bihar style, civilised & low-cost. CM gets support of largest party and others. In Maharashtra, BJP engineered defections. In Bihar, BJP was rejected and ejected," he wrote.
The CPIML (L) Wednesday said it is seeking a common minimum programme from the new Bihar government while promising outside support to it.
The party which has a dozen MLAs in Bihar assembly and was a key player in the drama surrounding Nitish Kumar's move to embrace the `Mahagathbandhan', said that it will work to provide a bridge between the civil society's demands and the new government in the state.
"We are proposing that a common minimum programme of the new government be created," Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the CPIML (L) said at a press conference held here on Wednesday.
"We do not wish to be in the ministry," Bhattacharya said, while promising "creative and critical cooperation from outside" to the new government in Bihar.
He said that the party will provide policy inputs and help the government in policy-making and implementation.
"If the government moves in this direction as an anti-BJP dispensation should, then certainly our cooperation will be there," he said.
Asked about Nitish Kumar's track record of switching allies, Bhattacharya said that he would not comment on the past or future possibilities but only about the present.
"The question is not Nitish Kumar, but the BJP," he said, adding that the saffron party has put itself in such a position that its own leaders like Yashwant Sinha left the party and its long-standing ally Nitish Kumar had to part ways with it.
Bhattacharya said that at present no support is with both hands, but is relative to the present situation in the country where he claimed the BJP is trying to establish a one-party system.
Bhattacharya said that the party's Bihar state committee will meet on August 13, where he and other leaders will be present.
"What happened in Bihar is not only important for the state but also for the country," he said.
He claimed that the BJP became "aggressive after winning the Uttar Pradesh election" and worked to change the government in Maharashtra.
Bhattacharya also claimed the saffron party was working to bring down the elected government in Jharkhand and change the chief minister in Bihar, replacing him with a BJP candidate.
Alleging that the BJP is trying to establish a one-party system in the country, he said that it "was trying to make Bihar a laboratory for that."
"Bihar has stopped this march of the BJP," he said, claiming that what happened in the state's politics is very significant for the country.
He said that his party would expect the new government to be more sensitive to civil society and democratic movements.
"It is three years to the next assembly elections in Bihar and less than two years before the Lok Sabha polls, some visible changes and policy changes have to be made by then," he said.
He said that a coordinating committee needs to be set up as well a monitoring mechanism.
"We would propose that a common minimum programme be made and for it a coordination committee and monitoring mechanism be made," he said.
The CPI(ML) leader also underlined that the Nitish Kumar dispensation will have to give priority to job creation in the state.
Holding that mandis for buying agricultural products were dispensed with after Nitish Kumar first became Bihar chief minister in 2005, he demanded that these be made operational again to ensure fair price to farmers.
JD(U) on Wednesday asserted that it was "not scared of ED and CBI" following its break-up with the BJP, which rules the Centre and is often accused by the opposition of misusing investigating agencies.
JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, who addressed a press conference here to reply to the BJP's charge of "betrayal", accused the former ally of having deceived the coalition dharma "by weaning away our MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh, who were already supporting their government".
Lalan also mocked former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi for claiming that Kumar got miffed over not being considered for the vice president's post.
"He has been shunted by the BJP as a punishment for the close relations he shared with Nitish Kumar. May such antics bring him some degree of political rehabilitation," Lalan said.
Modi had made the allegation at a press conference earlier in the day.
Besides the JD(U), he drew flak from the RJD which has now become part of the new ruling coalition.
"Sushil Kumar Modi had alleged police assault when Lalu Prasad was the CM. He got himself bandaged but when Lalu challenged him to show his wounds he never agreed because that would have exposed him. He is a habitual liar," alleged RJD national vice president Shivanand Tiwary who has known Modi, Kumar and Prasad since the 1970s.
To a question on Kumar having said that had Sushil Kumar Modi been around, things would not have come to such a pass between JD(U) and BJP, Lalan said: "It is true that old timers are being side-lined in the party so that the ideals espoused by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi could be buried. Many state leaders of that period have been replaced with those who can ride on other people's toes".
Lalan was also asked whether parting ways with the BJP would make the JD(U) vulnerable to alleged political vendetta through probe agencies.
"Let them unleash the agencies. We are not afraid of the CBI and ED. Only those who run companies need to live in fear. We depend on the salary we draw as MPs or MLAs besides other legal sources of personal income for survival," replied the Lok Sabha member.
He also said the party's decision to snap ties with the BJP was "supported by all, including those who could not attend yesterday's meeting, like Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh who spoke to me over the telephone to convey that he will always back Nitish Kumar."
The JD(U) chief accused the BJP of having used the LJP, then headed by Chirag Paswan, "to field its own rebels against our candidates" in the last assembly polls.
Lalan also reiterated the allegation that former JD(U) president RCP Singh had become the BJP's "agent".
However, when asked whether the ex-Union minister tried to split the party, he asserted: "Nobody can cause fissures in our ranks".
"They (BJP) accuse us of betraying the mandate. Why did they agree to join Nitish Kumar's government in 2017? He had won the assembly polls as the Grand Alliance's Chief Ministerial candidate. They better not talk about coalition dharma after what they did to us in Arunachal," he fumed.
Six JD(U) MLAs joined the BJP in Arunachal Pradesh in December 2020.
The BJP will face an uphill task in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
More than 30 of their MPs are from adjoining states of Bihar and West Bengal where they may draw a blank and lose majority which will sound the death knell for the tanashahi (dictatorship)," said the JD(U) chief.
He also reminded the BJP that it could win only 53 seats in the 2015 assembly polls "when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself held a record number of 42 rallies".
Hundreds of RJD-JDU supporters who gathered outside Raj Bhavan, and on the bungalow compounds of chief minister Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav, went into a frenzy celebrating the new 'Mahagathbandhan Sarkar' (grand alliance government) which was sworn in on Wednesday.
People gathered to witness displays of fireworks, as excited workers of various parties of the alliance distributed sweets, beat drums, and danced.
Amid the euphoria, a six-year-old boy called Rudra Bahubali arrived at the Raj Bhavan with a bouquet of red roses to present it to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.
A resident of Pirmuhani in Patna, the little fan of Tejashwi, who was accompanied by his father, said, "I would like to present a bouquet to Tejashwi 'Chacha' (uncle) and congratulate him".
Donning an RJD scarf on his head and sporting a shirt with the party symbol, lantern- printed on it, the boy said, "I am very happy ('Main Bahut Khush Hoon')".
An RJD supporter from Jehanabad cycled 69 km with 50 supporters to witness the return of a government supported by his party.
The die-hard supporter Vinay Bihari reached Raj Bhavan just in time for the swearing-in ceremony.
"Kamal Ho Gaya (It's a miracle)," said Bihari as he extolled Tejashwi and Lalu Prasad's leadership skills.
Another RJD supporter while distributing 'laddus' to his fellow colleagues said that he was sure that "Bihar will have true development now."
"People are happy as the dark days are over and youth will get jobs," the excited supporter said.
A JD(U) supporter, Dayanand, while celebrating the moment, said the people of Bihar would love to "see Nitish Kumar as the Prime Minister of India in 2024 and this is the beginning".
Tejashwi Yadav will become the state chief minister when Kumar goes to Delhi, he predicted while digging into a sweetmeat.