BJP says it will also "sweep" assembly polls

Patna, Jul 10: With the BJP led NDA set to win 14 out of the 24 Bihar Legislative Council seats, the BJP today exuded confidence that it will "sweep" the assembly polls too riding on "mounting anger against the JD(U) government for its failure on all fronts".

Senior BJP leaders - Sushil Kumar Modi, Leader of Opposition in the assembly Nandkishore Yadav and its Bihar chief Mangal Pandey held a joint press conference and thanked the voters for giving a "landslide" mandate in favour of the NDA candidates.

Sushil Modi said his party's stand that the legislative council poll was the semifinal before the assembly polls has seen victory by the electorate spread over 43,000 villagers in Bihar.

"The outcome of legislative council polls is a clear reflection of accumulated anger among the people against the JD(U) government and more so against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar," he said adding the groundswell of support in favour of NDA bodes well for it in the coming assembly polls.

Describing the trends and results of the legislative council polls as significant in many ways, Modi said the voters (1,38,904) not only represented local bodies, but also the cross-section of the society comprising dalits, mahadalits, backward caste and extremely backward castes, besides women.

"They have collectively rejected the secular alliance and reposed faith in the NDA to deliver the goods." Sushil Modi charged the JD(U) government with misusing official machinery to coerce voters to support the candidates of 'secular' alliance and said all its "strong arm tactics" had failed this time. "This portends bad for its (JD-U's) prospects in the assembly polls and its days in power were numbered," he claimed.

As results and trends of 24 legislative council seats poured in indicting a victory for BJP, its leaders and workers gathered at the party office at Veer Chand Patel Path here and burst into celebrations by distributing sweets and bursting firecrackers. NDA is set to win 14 seats against ten by the secular alliance.

PTI