Shah sets 160+ target for NDA in Bihar polls

Patna/Araria: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday set an ambitious target of winning over 160 seats in upcoming Bihar assembly elections and urged the BJP workers to visit every household and convey the NDA govt’s achievements. Bihar has 243 seats in the legislative assembly.

Addressing around 4,200 party workers from 10 organisational districts at Forbesganj in Araria on his second day of Bihar visit, Shah attacked the RJD and Congress, claiming their campaigns aimed to protect the voting rights of infiltrators. “BJP will kick out each and every infiltrator (ghuspaithiya) from the state and the country,” he said. Shah added that no bona fide Indian citizen’s name had been removed in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.


Boosting their morale, Shah addressed the party workers as “malik” and said, “Unlike other parties, it is the BJP workers who win elections for the party. The coming Bihar election is for the state’s further development, to make the country stronger and to strengthen the hands of PM Narendra Modi.”

Recalling the last assembly polls in the state, he said the NDA was number one in the districts of Seemanchal and Kosi regions, except in Kishanganj, and urged workers to conquer it in 2025. Highlighting recent welfare initiatives, he mentioned the hike in monthly social security pensions from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100, the transfer of Rs 10,000 each to the accounts of 75 lakh women and plans to spend Rs 900 crore on the construction of the Sita temple at Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi. He also referred to the Kosi-Mechi intra-river linking project and other developmental works under the NDA govt in Bihar.

Criticising the opposition, Shah said, “When Lalu was Bihar CM, the per capita income was Rs 8,000. Now it has increased to Rs 68,000. Congress conducted scams of over Rs 12 lakh crore and Lalu & Co looted Bihar during their regimes. But there has been no corruption charge against Modi in his 11 years at the helm due to transparency in governance.”

Shah also highlighted central initiatives, such as the establishment of a makhana board, development of Purnia airport, new railway services, welfare schemes including free ration and sanitation and hydroelectric projects.

Earlier in the day, he addressed party workers from eight organisational districts at Sarairanjan in Samastipur, urging them to leave no stone unturned to ensure NDA victory in the Nov elections.