BJP defends MoS Nityanand Rai's 'terrorist' jibe on RJD, says 'Remarks being twisted'

BJP leader Bhupendra Yadav on Wednesday backed Minister of State (MoS), Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai over his alleged controversial remarks on the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). While addressing a public gathering in poll-bound Bihar, Rai had said that if RJD comes to power in the state after the upcoming assembly election then terrorists will escape Kashmir and take shelter in the state.

"Terrorists whom we are eliminating from Kashmir will escape and take shelter in Bihar if RJD is elected to power in the state. We will not let this happen," Rai had said.

Opposition parties including RJD targeted MoS Rai over his comments after which Bhupendra Yadav came in defence of Rai stating that his comments were twisted by the opposition.

"Nityanand Ji's statement meant that BJP is strongly fighting against terrorism...in a way the remark is being twisted, he had said it in context of national security," Yadav said while addressing reporters.

"We are fighting the election on the issue of corruption, RJD should answer why corruption was rampant during the RJD regime. We are fighting on the issue of agriculture and they should answer why agriculture development rate didn't increase during the RJD regime. We are fighting on the issues of road, electricity and water but RJD wants to take Bihar back to the lantern years," he added.

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Battle of Bihar Election

The ensuing war of words is in the backdrop of the upcoming elections in the Bihar which is set to cast vote in three phases for its 243 assembly seats on -- October 28, November 3 and November 7. Keeping in view the COVID-19 protocol, the voting time has been increased by one hour. The counting of votes will take place on November 10. The ECI announced the Bihar election schedule on September 25 and the Model Code of Conduct has been in effect since the announcement of election dates.

A major battle is expected between the to major alliances -- NDA and Mahagathbandhan. From the NDA fold, BJP will contest on 121 seats of which 11 seats have been allocated to its smaller allies, while the ruling JDU in coalition with BJP will contest on 122 seats of which 7 seats are allotted to Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM, in the 243 seat Bihar assembly election. This election will witness one of the allies in NDA, the LJP contesting solo as the party had differences over the seat-sharing ratio with JDU. On the other hand, Mahagathbandhan consisting of Congress and RJD will have Tejashwi Yadav as the CM face with RJD-Congress agreeing on 144:70 seat-sharing ratio along with three other Communist parties contesting on 29 seats.

Besides the NDA and Mahagathbandhan, other smaller alliances are also in the fray. Pappu Yadav's Jan Adhikar Party (JAP), Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party, MK Faizi's Social Democratic Party and Bahujan Mukti Party teamed up to form Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) to contest the Bihar elections.

Also, Owaisi on October 8 had announced his party's alliance with Upendra Kushwaha-led RLSP, Mayawati's BSP, Devendra Yadav's SJDD, and SBSP as the 'Grand Democratic Secular Front' to contest in the upcoming Bihar polls. Naming Kushwaha as the alliance's chief ministerial face, Owaisi said that 15 years of BJP-JDU and RJD-Congress did not benefit anyone in the state.

(With ANI inputs)

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