Janata Parivar failed to click, says Amit Shah

Increasing foothold: BJP chief says his party will do well in Bihar elections too

With the BJP continuing to perform well in state polls since winning the general election, party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday said the Jharkhand Assembly election results have proved that the grand Janata Parivar alliance, formed to check Modi’s popularity, had failed to click in its first electoral test, as the Congress-RJD-JD(U) combine’s gain was reduced to single digit.

This, Shah said at a press conference, does not augur well for the Janata Parivar, whose “Bihar dream” was demolished by the outcome of the result in the tribal state. Bihar Assembly elections are due next year.

Opposition parties, such as the Congress, RJD, JD(U), SP, the Left and JD(S), have come together to form a larger non-NDA alliance over the fear that to remain politically alive, the parties would have to fight the BJP together.
Shah said he was confident that the BJP would do well in Bihar too.

Former Bihar chief minister and JD(U) veteran Nitish Kumar, however, did not agree with Shah’s analysis. Kumar said in Patna he never expected much from the Assembly polls in the absence of “perfect alliance among us”, which according to him would have happened if regional outfits JMM or JVM were part of the anti-BJP platform.

“I was not expecting much in the absence of perfect alliance among us. Any front against the BJP without the JMM or JVM in Jharkhand could not have been a potent force,” said Kumar.

Kumar, who had snapped ties with BJP objecting to Modi’s elevation as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, however felt that the saffron party's performance in both Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir were “below expectations”, and there was no need for celebration, perhaps hinting that the BJP did not come to power in Jharkhand on its own and had to rely on smaller regional partners to stake claim to government formation.

Referring to the Congress' slide since Modi became prime minister in May, Shah said the results were another chapter in the BJP's mission to rid the country of the Congress, and that the party was moving in the right direction.

“The Congress is in either the third or fourth position in these states. We are getting nearer to our goal of Congress-free India,” said the BJP chief.

The Congress has been relegated to the fourth place in Jammu and Kashmir, the third in Jharkhand and had come third in the recent Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections.

Politicos speak

My congratulations to the BJP party workers of Jharkhand and J&K. The results are the outcome of their hardwork & selfless dedication
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister

Had there been an
opposition alliance in Jharkhand like in Bihar, the BJP would have been pegged back to half of the seats it has won in the neighbouring state
Jitan Ram Manjhi
Bihar Chief Minister

The BJP’s performance in both Jharkhand and J&K appears to be below
expectations and there is no reason for their celebration
Nitish Kumar
Former Bihar CM

We will be able to form a stable government which will give progress and development to Jharkhand
Jayant Sinha
MoS for Finance

People have realised that the Opposition parties are opposing the BJP just for sake of it. By continuously voting in favour of BJP, they have proved that it
believes in taking everybody along and in development of all
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Madhya Pradesh CM

The results virtually gagged the people who said the BJP had no political base or cadre here
Manohar Lal
Khattar
Haryana Chief Minister