Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav asserted on Sunday
that Bihar will spring a surprise in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“The biggest festival of democracy has started. Bihar will give a startling result in the polls this time. It will be surprising because there is an undercurrent in the people of the state,” Tejashwi told reporters while leaving for Mumbai to meet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The two leaders are expected to discuss seat-sharing modalities for the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, where the RJD, Congress and the Left parties are a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

“The people are comparing 17 years (of NDA rule) in the state to 17 months of the Mahagathbandhan rule, and what the present government at the Centre has done for Bihar in the past 10 years. What did Prime Minister Narendra Modi do for Bihar in 10 years? He neither gave special status to Bihar, nor restarted the sugar mills, established factories, or reduced inflation,” Tejashwi added.

Speaking further, the RJD leader pointed out that the Centre did not accept the Bihar government’s request to include the increase in reservation from 50 per cent to 75 per cent in the state, in the IX schedule of the Constitution. Such a step will give it immunity from being challenged in the court.

Tejashwi, the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, asserted that while the Mahagathbandhan government appointed 2 lakh teachers by conducting exams in two phases within 70 days of coming to power, “while the BJP government came to power and the examination paper was leaked. The astonishing part was that candidates had answers written on the back of their admit cards. This is like playing with the future of the youths.”

The younger son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad was referring to the paper leak that hit the recruitment test for teachers in government schools in the state earlier this week. The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) had conducted it.

Tejashwi took potshots at Nitish for crossing over the NDA and said: “He is unable to speak anything after joining hands with the BJP. He is my guardian and I can understand his compulsions that at times people have to make compromises.”

Slamming the BJP for making false promises, the RJD leader sought to know what happened to the Rs 15 lakh that was to be deposited in everybody’s bank accounts.

“I challenge the Centre to reveal if it gave more government jobs than us during our 17 months of the Mahagathbandhan rule. The real issues like inflation, problems of farmers, and assistance to develop Bihar are not being discussed,” Tejashwi added.

Meanwhile, Bihar BJP chief and deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary hit back at Tejashwi for associating his party (BJP) with the BPSC teacher recruitment examination paper leak.

“Has he (Tejashwi) lost his mind? This is not the RJD. Everything is being probed. The entire country knows that during Lalu’s time, BPSC chairmen used to go to jail. Strict action will be taken against people involved in the paper leak,” Samrat said.