CPI(ML) Leader Slams Bihar's Double-Engine Govt as Total Failure
Hitting out at the ruling NDA alliance for the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar, Mr Bhattacharya said they keep talking about the past because they can't answer about the present.
New Delhi: Ahead of the impending Bihar Assembly polls, CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya asserted that the double-engine government in Bihar has completely failed. In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Mr Bhattacharya said that the ongoing seat-sharing talks among the INDIA bloc partners have been disrupted due to the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The CPI(ML) Liberation leader, though, maintained that the Mahagathbandhan parties have exchanged lists of possible seats they wish to contest, and in some exceptional cases, seat swapping will be allowed too.
Hitting out at the ruling NDA alliance for the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar, Mr Bhattacharya said they keep talking about the past because they can't answer about the present. “So, when they say that it used to be ‘jungle raj’, people say that this is ‘maha jungle raj’ now,” he said.
Terming the Bihar Assembly polls as “parivartan ka chunav ” (election for change), Mr Bhattacharya said that in place of development the government, in the last 20 years, has given acute poverty, massive joblessness and a huge debt burden. "The debt trap has started claiming lives in Bihar," he said.
“The NDA double-engine government has completely failed. Before 2014, it used to be a single-engine government of chief minister Nitish Kumar in the state, but after 2014, it is a double-engine government… This is a failure, a double-engine failure… This is going to be an election for change,” he said, adding that in spite of the hugely disruptive exercise like SIR, which has been inflicted by the Election Commission, the people of Bihar will still use this election to raise their voice and change the government.
Pointing out that law and order will be a major issue in the Bihar Assembly polls, Mr Bhattacharya said, “Crime is a major issue as the law and order situation has gotten much worse. That's why they keep talking about the past, because they can't answer about the present. The NDA leaders keep talking about Jungle raj, but the people of Bihar are now enduring maha jungle raj… in fact this is a ‘gunda raj’…,” he said.
The CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary claimed that the NDA leaders are talking about previous cases of corruption because today corruption has become institutionalised in Bihar.
Talking about the Mahagathbandhan seat-sharing discussions, Mr Bhattacharya said that the talks are ongoing and the alliance parties have exchanged lists.
“The seat-sharing talks got disrupted because of the ongoing exercise of SIR. Meanwhile, we are getting our plans ready for seat sharing, for the election campaign and for the manifesto. We are giving finishing touches to the manifesto,” the CPI(ML) Liberation leader said, further adding that there may be some exceptional cases of seats swapping too.
“Some seats which maybe the Congress had contested last time and maybe ML will be contesting this time,” the CPI(ML) Liberation leader said.
When asked about the number of seats the CPI(ML) Liberation will contest, Mr Bhattacharya said they are preparing some 40-odd seats and have arrived at this number as the party is looking at the whole of Bihar.
“We are considering contesting in those districts and areas where we can make a difference. The last time we got 19 seats to contest and won 12. But these 19 seats were spread only over 12 districts of Bihar. There are 38 districts in the state and we have a solid organisational presence in at least 25 districts. Our contesting a seat or two in these districts will definitely elevate the performance of the entire coalition,” he said.
