Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get a decisive majority in the two-phase elections to the 243-member Bihar Legislative Assembly. In an exclusive interview with India TV, Pradhan also took a dig at the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and said the women were the biggest victims of 'jungle raj' in Bihar.
Pradhan, who is Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) in-charge for the Bihar polls, claimed that the youth support Prime Minister Narendra Modi and incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, stressing that only the NDA can fulfil their aspirations and improve their condition.
"NDA will get a massive majority... Before 2005, during the 'jungle raj', the women in Bihar suffered a lot. They were the real victims. But after 2005, their condition improved," Pradhan told India TV.
"How can we forget (the jungle raj)? They (RJD) were also involved in the fodder scam. Thus, it is our responsibility to expose them, and we are not doing anything wrong. Congress only looted the people, so shouldn't we expose them?" Pradhan added.
Taking a swipe at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his recent allegations on 'vote chori', the union education minister said no one will support the grand old party in Bihar. Pradhan also slammed Gandhi for questioning India's democracy on foreign soil.
The former Congress president had recently held a press conference in which he had alleged that the BJP-led NDA win elections by stealing votes and it would try to do the same in the Bihar elections.
"As a citizen, I express my grief over the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha's mental bankruptcy. What kind of language does he use? A couple of days, he even abused the Constitution. He questions the country and the Indian armed forces," the BJP MP from Odisha's Sambalpur told India TV.
The polling for the phase 1 of Bihar elections was held on Thursday. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the phase 1 - in which polling was held on 121 assembly seats across 18 districts - saw a voter turnout of nearly 65 per cent.
The phase 2 will take place on November 11 and the counting of votes will take place on November 14.
