Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta’s Bihar campaign began with a fumble.
At her first rally in Muzaffarpur on Wednesday, the BJP leader appeared to question the very governments her own party has helped run for nearly two decades.
“I want to ask, why has Bihar suffered for so many years?” Gupta was seen saying in a PTI video. “It’s because the previous governments cared only about their own families, not about the poor people of Bihar. Why did the youth of Bihar have to leave their homes and go elsewhere to earn a living?”
The attack, aimed at the Opposition, raised eyebrows. For most of the past 20 years, Bihar has been under NDA rule, Nitish Kumar as chief minister for over 19 years and Jitan Ram Manjhi for close to one. Except for a brief bit when the RJD-JDU alliance held power, the BJP has been either in government or sharing it.
While speaking to reporters later, Gupta turned her attention to the Opposition.
Taking aim at Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, she accused the Mahagathbandhan of resorting to “anything for votes during elections”, including “belittling the nation” and “making personal remarks.”
“They think they can deceive the people of Bihar,” she said, adding, “a Bihari can be innocent but not naive. The people of Bihar want development — the kind they have seen under the NDA’s rule,” she said.
Gupta, the only woman chief minister in 14 BJP-ruled states, will campaign on Thursday and Friday across five constituencies, Bochahan (Muzaffarpur), Danapur (Patna Rural), Patna Sahib (Patna), Madhuban, and Dinara (Rohtas).
The 243-member Bihar Assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes will be taken up November 14.