Patna, Feb 9 (IANS) Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to focus on the sinking economy before flagging the threat to his Rashtriya Janata Dal from ally Congress.
“He should be more worried about the economy or the entire state rather than expressing fears over our party’s future,” Tejashwi Yadav told IANS in response to PM Modi’s warning that the “predatory politics” of the Congress will spell doom for its allies.
During his speech on Saturday after the BJP’s victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, the PM said that in Bihar, the Congress was trying to use caste issues to eat into the RJD’s vote bank.
PM Modi accused the Congress of a habit of shortening others’ lives. He said the Congress is prone to steal the agenda and slogans of its own allies in states and try to edge past them in their own strongholds.
On Sunday, Tejashwi Yadav dismissed PM Modi’s warning for his party to be aware of Congress’ intention, saying: “The Congress or the RJD are not sinking. It is the economy that is sinking. It is the double engine government that is meting out step-motherly treatment to Bihar.”
He also trained his guns at PM Modi for commenting about Congress and its allies, adding: “He should worry about development and not just one state or party.”
If the PM is really concerned about Bihar, he should give a special category status to Bihar, he said.
The former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar also dismissed claims that the BJP’s resounding victory in the Delhi Assembly elections will add to the NDA’s momentum in the Bihar Assembly elections later this year.
“Bihar isn’t like any other state. You need to see and understand a lot of things first,” he said.
This was not the first time that the PM attacked the Congress over its alleged predatory tactics towards its allies. “Whoever holds the Congress’ hand, his doom is sure,” he said.
The PM, during his speech in Delhi, hit out at the Congress’s attempts to dig into vote banks of the DMK in Tamil Nadu and the Samajwadi Party and the BSP in UP.
He had raised the issue earlier during his reply to the Motion of Thanks to President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha.
PM Modi had pointed to the poor electoral performance of the Congress and said the predatory party is like a sinking ship that drowns its allies along with itself.
“This is the reason why Congress’ allies started deserting it after tasting defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha election,” he said.
–IANS
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