New Delhi: Ahead of Bihar Assembly polls, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis has been appointed as party’s Bihar in-charge on Wednesday at a party meeting here.
The decision to appoint Fadnavis as party’s Bihar in-charge was taken at a meeting held at BJP president JP Nadda’s residence along with Home Minister Amit Shah, MoS Nityanand Rai, BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh, BJP Bihar President Sanjay Jaiswal, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, Lok Sabha MP Bhupender Yadav and other senior leaders.
“This is a great time to learn as well. Sanjay Jaiswal and Bhupender Yadav have already set the things in Bihar. We will fight this election with full power. NDA will be in power. Nitish Kumar will lead the state,” said Fadnavis while speaking to media.
BJP leader Bhupendra Yadav said, “NDA ‘gathbandhan’ under the leadership of CM Nitesh Kumar will fight the Bihar Elections. BJP, Janata Dal (U) and Lok Janshakti Party — these three parties– will fight the elections. Even Jiten Majhi’s party has extended support to JDU. They are also with us.”
“National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be a win. Nitish Kumar will be Chief Minister again. People of Bihar are with us. The next two days are important to us. We will make a formal announcement of the alliance soon,” he added.
Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases–October 28, November 3, and 7 and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.
In the 2015 assembly polls, JD-U, RJD, and Congress had fought the elections together under the Mahagathbandhan banner. On the other hand, the BJP-led NDA had fought the elections with Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and other allies.
RJD with 80 seats had emerged as the single largest party in the elections, followed by JD-U (71), and BJP (53). However, BJP got the largest vote share (24.42 per cent), followed by RJD with 18.35 per cent and JD-U (16.83 per cent).
Differences later emerged between the RJD and JD-U, resulting in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returning to the NDA.