Congress president Mallikarjun Khare claimed on Wednesday that the internal strife in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar is out in the open and the BJP considers Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a burden.
Speaking at the Congress Working Committee meeting in Patna, Kharge asserted that the upcoming assembly elections would mark the beginning of the end of Modi’s “corrupt” rule.
“The 2025 Assembly elections will prove to be a milestone not only for Bihar but for the entire country. This will mark the beginning of the countdown and the end of the corrupt rule of the Modi government,” he said.
Bihar goes to the polls later this year with the Congress, in alliance with the RJD, hoping to wrest power from the BJP-JDU combine.
In his address, the Congress chief also launched a blistering attack on the central government, accusing it of orchestrating “vote theft” and communal polarisation.
“Our problems at the international level are the result of the diplomatic failure of Narendra Modi and his government. The very friends whom the prime minister boasts about as “my friends” are today putting India in numerous troubles,” Kharge said in an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump’s recent moves against India.
The Congress has been targeting the Centre over Trump’s imposition of a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods and his repeated claims of ending the India-Pakistan conflict. The opposition has also blamed Modi’s “failed” foreign policy for the US’s recent action on H-1B visas.
The CWC meeting takes place amid Congress's nationwide agitation against the alleged 'vote theft' in several states. Raking up this issue, Kharge said serious questions are being raised today about the fairness and transparency of the Election Commission itself.
“Instead of answering questions on revelations from various states, EC is demanding affidavits from us,” said the Congress chief.
The opposition has been critical of the Special Intensive Rivision (SIR) carried out by the poll panel in Bihar, alleging that several genuine voters have been removed from the list.
Kharge said a conspiracy is now being hatched across the country to remove the votes of millions of people.
“Vote theft means theft of rations, pensions, medicine, children's scholarships, and exam fees belonging to Dalits, tribals, backward classes, extremely backward classes, minorities, the weak, and the poor,” he said.