Bihar’s ruling coalition, the BJP-led NDA, released its manifesto with a raft of promises on Friday, less than a week before Phase 1 of the Assembly elections.
The manifesto promises a number of things like one crore government jobs to turning a crore women into “lakhpati didis".
It mentions the construction of seven expressways, and establishment of 10 industrial parks. The alliance has also pledged free ration, 125 units of free electricity, free medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh, and 50 lakh new pucca houses under the PM Awas Yojana.
It has also promised free and quality education from 'KG to PG' to students from poor families, besides nutritious breakfast along with midday meals in schools.
Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot termed the NDA’s manifesto a “string of lies”.
He claimed that the ruling NDA released its manifesto in a press meet that lasted only 26 seconds, as they were afraid of facing questions from journalists.
“Was he [Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar] not in a position to speak about it?” the Congress leader asked.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh claimed that Nitish not being allowed to speak on the manifesto was a disrespect for Bihar and Biharis.
RJD MP Manoj Jha said: “You [NDA] are taking signals from the Mahagathbandhan and Tejashwi Yadav, copying them, and that too in a half-hearted and poor manner. Even the prime minister must know that if the manifesto is being released, Bihar deserves the same attention as Gujarat.
"This double character and double standard will not work, where Gujarat gets the investment and Bihar only sends the labourers. This pattern must change. If you cannot ensure that Bihar receives the same level of investment as Gujarat, then everything else in the manifesto is just empty talk", he added.
Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor also criticised the document, saying, “They have been ruling Bihar for the last 20 years — instead of a manifesto, they should have released a report card. Making new promises without fulfilling old ones has no meaning.”
Congress leader Pawan Khera questioned the NDA’s approach.
“Before we could even blink, the manifesto was released, it was over in just 25–30 seconds. We’ve never seen such a short press conference. Why wasn’t Nitish ji allowed to speak? Why are they hesitating to even mention his name? If they don’t want to project Nitish ji as the Chief Minister, they should say it openly instead of hinting at it indirectly. For the first time, we’ve seen a sitting chief minister, who has held the position for 20 years, being silenced in this way. It was truly shameful.”