Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Keshav Prasad Maurya today dared Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to hold fresh assembly polls by dissolving the state assembly if he has faith in the development work done by his government.

"They think that the alliance government of Congress, JD(U) and RJD is very powerful one. If it is so, then Nitish Kumar should not wait for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, rather he should dissolve assembly and hold elections afresh. Lotus will blossom here too like in UP," Maurya told a meeting held here to showcase the achievements of Narendra Modi government.

"Nitish Kumar has a lust for power. He can't live without power...If he has faith in the work (developmental) done by him in the state, then he should hold fresh assembly polls and test his strength," the senior BJP leader said.

There is a complete panic in the grand alliance which is evident from the fact that a host of big leaders from JD(U), RJD and Congress have joined BJP today and this is not going to stop.

Ex Chief Minister Satish Kumar, Ex ministers Samrat Choudhary, Basawan Bhagat, Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Ex MLAs Ganesh Paswan, Dinesh Yadav (RJD) joined the BJP in the presence of Maurya.

Maurya, who is on a two-day Bihar visit to show-case Modi government's achievements of past three years, alleged that the developed has taken back seat in Bihar as funds released by the Central government is not being spent by the state government here.

"Growth will pick up momentum if there will be government of one party both at the Centre and state," he said adding that on the pattern of making country "Congress mukt", Bihar will be made "RJD-JD(U) mukt" as the state government believes in "Kuch Ka Sath, Kuch Ka Vikas" referring to Lalu Prasad and his family embroiled in amassing benami assets.

Maurya, who is also UP BJP chief, said that after registering impressive win in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the party has geared up for grabbing all the 80 seats and 40 seats in UP and Bihar respectively in order to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again in 2019.

Stating that BJP will form government in 2019 by winning over 400 LS seats, he claimed that all opposition parties, which have ganged up together against the PM, are preparing for 2024 LS polls.
Speaking on the occasion, senior party leader Sushil Kumar Modi also appealed people to uproot the Nitish government and asserted that there is "no vacancy" for Prime Minister's post in 2019.

He said that opposition parties have not cobbled up together to save country, rather they have come together to save their "benami properties" on which the Narendra Modi government has launched a drive since September 2016.

"We will give 40 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in 2019 polls to strengthen the hands of Narendra Modi," he said.

Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion included Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai, Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, Leader of opposition in the state assembly Prem Kumar, former Bihar BJP chief Nand Kishore Yadav and Rajya Sabha member R K Sinha.