BJP, JD(U) use Lalu's 'jungle raj' tag to attack each other

Ahead of their crucial battle for power in Bihar, erstwhile allies BJP and state's ruling JD(U) today used the "jungle raj" epithet, frequently levelled against the Lalu-Rabri rule, to attack each other.
Setting the tone for a bitter electoral battle due this October, BJP president Amit Shah alleged "jungle raj 2" was in place in Bihar after JD(U) broke off the alliance with it in the wake of Narendra Modi being declared the party's prime ministerial candidate.
"After the separation what has happened is that jungle raj-2 has returned to Bihar," Shah told the party's National Executive as its two-day conclave got underway in Bengaluru.

"This is jungle raj-2 and therefore people of Bihar are very angry and upset. They want a new government led by BJP," Shah said exuding confidence about his party's triumph in the assembly elections.
Hitting back with equal vengeance, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav said the "jungle raj" sobriquet was apt to describe the situation prevailing in the country under NDA dispensation.
"Be it the issue of love jihad, portrayal of (Nathuram) Godse as a great man, stand like those who don't vote for BJP should go to Pakistan...It is BJP which has shown the real face of jungle raj to the country since it assumed power," Yadav shot back.

"Rahul (Gandhi) ko dhundo (search for Rahul) and jungle raj in Bihar...This is all jumblebazi. What they said worked during Lok Sabha election. But it will not work now," Yadav told PTI in Delhi.

Maintaining that BJP had not delivered on the promises made during the Lok Sabha polls yet, he said,"The untimely rains have caused substantial damage to crops in the country. Has the party mentioned anything about it?"
Launching a blistering attack on JD(U) at the conclave, Shah accused the former ally of betraying the "people's mandate" given to the two parties for running the government in the state.

"Last time the people of Bihar had given the mandate to BJP and JD(U) because we were in alliance, but JD(U) ditched people's mandate and went out of the alliance. So, it is they who have betrayed," Shah said.
After the mauling they got at the hands of BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar, Lalu Prasad's RJD and JD(U) have joined hands and look set to contest the Assembly elections together.
RJD is propping the Nitish Kumar government in the politically sensitive state where JD(U) does not have a majority on its own in the Assembly.