Remarks of BJP leaders show party 'jittery' after Bihar polls: JD(U)

New Delhi: JD(U) Friday latched on to remarks of senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and Anant Kumar to project that the party was "jittery" after Bihar polls, claiming its result will raise questions marks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'charisma' and BJP chief Amit Shah's strategy.

"They (BJP) are fearing defeat. Otherwise what was the reason for Rajnath Singh to assert that whether BJP wins or loses election, Amit Shah will remain BJP President. Ananth Kumar said that Bihar poll results are not a referendum on Narendra Modi's government.

"This shows there is somewhere a fear in their mind. They are fearing defeat. They employed all tricks and brought even cow in the last leg of polls but none worked," Bihar JD(U) President Vashishtha Narayan Singh told reporters here.

Kumar had yesterday said there was no question of the verdict in Bihar assembly polls being a referendum on the Narendra Modi government's performance.

"If at all the Bihar polls are a referendum on anything, it is on Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar and jungle raj," Kumar, who is BJP's poll in-charge in Bihar had said soon after the conclusion of the fifth and last phase of polling yesterday.

Responding to questions on whether the outcome of Bihar elections will have a bearing on Amit Shah's future as party president and whether he will get another term, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said there was no logic to link any assembly election to the national president of the party.

"Even when I was party president, the party won and lost assembly elections. But I was not evaluated on that basis (assembly election results). Party presidents complete their tenures. He (Shah) will get a fresh term," Rajnath Singh said.

While the JD(U) state chief repeatedly talked about "fear" in the BJP camp over the results, he also avoided a direct reply on whether a defeat for the grand alliance will mean that Nitish Kumar governance model was rejected by people or its alliance with RJD chief Lalu Prasad did not work.

"Then we will accept that we could not reach our message to people about our development agenda on which we had gone to them in the polls. But you have to see Bihar is back on rails. Results of Bihar polls will be a commentary on the one and half year-rule of NDA, its governance and policies. We are confident we will win with a massive mandate," he said.

Asserting that the grand alliance will get massive majority in Bihar, Singh said this will accelerate the bringing together of socialist forces in other states as well.

In a hard-hitting attack on NDA, Singh said that people of Bihar have "punished" the BJP for "hurting" the dignity of Bihar as the party and the Prime Minister "crossed all limits of decency" during election campaign in the state.

"BJP's attempts to polarise votes on communal lines also failed even as it brought cow in the polls," he said.