Holding a roadshow with NDA ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has exuded confidence that the ruling coalition will do even better in the state than in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and could even win the only constituency it had lost last time.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV during the roadshow on Sunday, the Prime Minister predicted a clean sweep for the alliance in Bihar and said in Hindi, "I have spoken to our allies in Bihar. We had lost one seat (in 2019) and we may not lose even one this time."
Stating that he has strong connections with the state and its people, PM Modi said, "I have come here very often for organisational work and have visited different parts of the state. I have very old connections here."
The Prime Minister said he has been to almost every state and there is a strong resolve all over the country to ensure the BJP and the NDA achieve their target of winning over 400 seats.
"Bihar has infused this resolve with new colours. It has given it new strength. The atmosphere across the country is mirrored in Bihar too," he said.
Bihar will be crucial for both the NDA and the INDIA alliance because, at 40, it sends the fourth-highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha. The opposition alliance was jolted earlier this year after Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal United chief Nitish Kumar switched sides yet again and went back to the NDA.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP and the Janata Dal United had contested 17 seats each while the undivided Lok Janshakti Party had fought six. The BJP and the LJP had achieved victory in all the seats in their quota while Nitish Kumar's JDU had lost one. The Kishanganj constituency was won by the Congress and Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal had drawn a blank.
In the seat-sharing arrangement for this year's elections, the BJP has the upper hand and is contesting 17 seats while the JDU has got 16. Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has been allotted five seats and Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Morcha will contest one seat each.
The Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), the opposition coalition in Bihar which is also part of the INDIA alliance at the Centre, has given the bulk of the seats - 26 - to the RJD. The Congress will contest nine seats, the CPI(ML) 3 and the CPI and CPM one each. (NDTV)
