BJP will decide CM candidate after Bihar polls: Amit Shah

Patna, Oct 19: BJP president Amit Shah on Monday said here that the party will decide on the chief ministerial candidate after the BJP-led NDA wins two-thirds majority in the Bihar assembly polls.

"The party and the parliamentary board will decide the name of the chief minister candidate soon after we win two-thirds majority in polls," Shah said at a press conference.

Shah said people of Bihar are with them to stop return of the jungle raj. "People do not want jungle raj-2 and we will come to power in Bihar," he said. [Dr Prem Kumar, an MLA from Gaya, NDA's CM candidate?]

He said the Bharatiya Janata Dal-led NDA government is must for the much-awaited development of Bihar.

"Only (we) can develop Bihar because RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and Nitish Kumar-led government ruled the state for 25 years but it remained backward."

Shah said the grand alliance of the JD-U, RJD and the Congress has been trying to derail and divert the development issue in the polls by raising beef or reservation issues. "We are committed to the development of Bihar."

During the staggered assembly elections, the BJP-led NDA's primary issue has been of development.

Shah reiterated that the BJP is not against reservation for Dalits and Other Backward Class. "We are in support of the reservation and we do not want any change in the present form of the reservation."

He said the NDA is set to win 32-34 of the 49 assembly constituencies where polls were held in the first phase on October 12 and 22-24 of the 32 constituencies which went to the polls in the second phase on October 16.

IANS