Nitish essential for Bihar’s growth, PM writes to voters

As campaigning for the third and final phase of the Bihar assembly elections came to a close, Prime Minister Narendra Modi penned an open letter to voters urging them to vote for incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s party is they wanted the state to develop and flourish.

Ahead of the final phase of voting on Saturday, Modi said people have full faith that only an NDA government can work for the state’s development.

“I am confident about the development of Bihar. I need the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar to ensure that there is no paucity in Bihar’s development and the welfare schemes continue there uninterrupted,” he said.

“I have full faith that the power of ‘double engine’ will take Bihar to new heights of development in this decade,” Modi said.

In his four-page letter in Hindi, the prime minister also said that better infrastructure and rule of law are imperative for social and economic prosperity and only the NDA can provide that in Bihar.

Altogether 12 rallies have been addressed by the prime minister, on whom the NDA banks for performing well in the 243 seats across the state.

On the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promised voters in the state that a grand-alliance government will create ‘Naya Bihar’ by bringing in industry, ensuring employment, waiving farm loans, reducing electricity tariff by half, and providing free education and justice to girls.

In another tweet, he attacked the BJP government at the Centre for not providing employment opportunities to people, alleging that the job crisis in the country is further deepening and the Modi government is doing nothing to resolve it.

In the third and final phase of Bihar assembly elections, 2.35 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of more than 1,200 candidates, including the Speaker and some members of the state cabinet. The final phase of polling on Saturday will cover 78 constituencies spread across 19 north Bihar districts.

Nitish Kumar left his audience stunned when he announced that these elections were his last. However, his party men were quick to clarify that the chief minister had meant the last meeting of this election, a news channel reported quoting sources.

Kumar was addressing a rally in Purnea when he said, “Today is the last day of campaigning. This is my last election (ye mera antim chunav hai). All is well that ends well.” The crowd was stunned into silence for a few seconds, after which they erupted in applause .