Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Thursday charged "goons" of the RJD, the main opposition party, with "attacking" his convoy in a village in Lakhisarai, his home turf, where he went following complaints that voters were being "terrorised".
The senior BJP leader also blew a fuse when some local officials suggested that the attackers were local residents venting their spleen on polling day over the lack of amenities like roads in the area.
"Roads have been built and are being maintained. How dare you say such a thing?" Sinha screamed at officials after he complained that "slippers, stones, mud and cow dung" had been hurled at his convoy while it was approaching Buriyari village.
The deputy CM, who seeks a fourth consecutive term from the Lakhisarai assembly segment, told reporters, "I was receiving complaints from the village since morning. Our polling agent was shooed away by RJD goons who had also terrorised local voters, mostly Dalits and extremely backward classes. So, I chose to come here myself." Incidentally, Lakhisarai was one of the districts that reported a higher-than-average voter turnout. According to the Election Commission, 62.70 per cent voting took place in the district, till 5 pm, as against the state-wide average of 60.18 per cent.
The deputy CM's outbursts led Rakesh Kumar, the DIG of Munger Range, to come rushing from the divisional headquarters 60 km away.
Speaking to reporters, the DIG said, "We have taken a serious note of the complaint made by the deputy CM, who is also the local MLA. The guilty will be identified and brought to book. Free and fair polls are being ensured." In Patna, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Amit Kumar Pandey said, "We have sought a detailed report on the incident in Lakhisarai. Action will be taken based on it." The episode triggered a political slugfest.
RJD spokesperson Shakti Yadav called Sinha a "liar" who was raising allegations despite "enjoying Z-plus security and belonging to the party in power".
Yadav also said that Sinha had faced the ire of villagers upset over a broken drain, a view that was echoed by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari, who said, "Workers of an opposition party cannot dare attack a deputy CM. It must be local residents letting off some steam on polling day." However, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan insisted that the incident was "a sign of desperation" on the part of the INDIA bloc, which was staring at a "defeat".
"The NDA is inching towards a record-breaking victory in Bihar. Just look at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has given up on vote-catching and has started catching fish," the BJP leader remarked, tongue in cheek.
Meanwhile, Sinha was also seen picking up a quarrel with RJD MLC Ajay Singh elsewhere in his constituency.
A video has gone viral in which the two leaders can be seen hurling expletives at each other and trading charges of "booth capturing".
Sinha can also be heard asking police officers to take the RJD MLC away for a medical test, which would confirm that the opposition party legislator was under the influence of alcohol, in flagrant violation of the ban on sale and consumption of liquor in the state.
Another stray incident was reported from Manjhi assembly constituency of Saran district, where the convoy of Satyendra Yadav, the sitting CPI(ML) Liberation MLA, was attacked by unidentified persons.
According to a statement issued by the Saran Police, occupants of the car, including the MLA, had escaped unhurt in the attack and a search was on for "anti-social elements" in the attack.
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