Mahagathbandhan indulging in 'opportunistic' politics: Jaitley

Expressing confidence of the BJP's clean sweep in the Bihar Assembly polls, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that the Janata Dal (United), which is desperate for power, must stop indulging in 'opportunistic' politics.

"If we look at their (JD-U) history then it will be very clear as to how did they reach till this position. They made an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The manpower was ours, but they sat on the driver's seat. Their internal strategy was that Lalu ji is sent to jail, and one vote-share of the RJD shifts to JD (U) and then the JD (U) reaches a position where they can betray the BJP and make an exit. They are now caught in their own trap," he told the media here.

Jaitley alleged that the 'mahagathbandhan' is an alliance of desperation.

"Congress is the only national party in this alliance. The only struggle for them is to make their presence in Bihar. They are very weak. It's a battle to save them from extinction. As far as the RJD is concerned, it is a party of kith and kin where one generation cannot fight the elections and they are ready to pay anything just to make the second generation's presence in politics. For them, it is desperation of generational transition," said Jaitley.

Jaitley said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity and the people's faith in him are the sweeping factors in the assembly elections.

"The people of Bihar want the state and Centre to work together. And through their resources, Bihar gets the administration that it hasn't yet got. The developmental package of Rs. 1.65 crores that the Central Government has given to Bihar has made the people believe that the reliability of the Prime Minister and the Centre will put the state on the path of development," said Jaitley.

"The negative attitude of the state government towards this was inappropriate. If they say that this is an old package, then why hasn't it been implemented in the last ten years? In those ten years, the Congress ruled for eight and a half years. And now both are in an alliance, so they are answerable to this," he added.

Polling for the third phase of the five-phase Bihar Assembly elections was held yesterday across 50 assembly seats spread over six districts.

The voting for the first two phases were held on October 12 and October 16, during which 81 assembly constituencies went to polls.

The fourth and fifth phase of polling is due on November 1 and November 5 respectively.

The counting of votes and declaration of results for 243-seat Bihar Assembly will be held on November 8.