Jaitley slams grand alliance, says 3-legged race cannot be won

Says Congress, RJD and JD(U) are responsible for the backwardness of Bihar

Blaming the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance for Bihar's backwardness, BJP leader Arun Jaitley today warned the electorate of a return to "anarchy and jungle raj" if it was voted to power but predicted a defeat for the coalition, saying a "three-legged race cannot be run or won".

Jaitley said the Congress ruled Bihar for 40 years, RJD for 15, and JD(U) for 10 years, and all these parties were responsible for its backwardness.

Jaitley, whose party BJP was an alliance partner of the JD(U) for a major part over the past decade, was talking to reporters after releasing the vision document of the party for the Assembly polls which promises sops for farmers, students and overall development of the state.

"This span of time is very long....The face of Bihar could have been changed during this period, but it was not to be," Jaitley said slamming Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for joining hands with the same parties which had 'ruined' Bihar.

Attacking the grand alliance as a contradictory coalition, he said, "participants of the grand alliance are opportunists. Political consistency is not their virtue. There can be no other result but to push Bihar into anarchy in case they win."

"We see such political inconsistency and that is why we are seeing such contradictory alliance. A three-legged race cannot be run and even if it is run, it cannot be won," he said, taking a dig at the anti-BJP coalition.

Apparently seeking to give a clean chit to the BJP for any lack of development in the state during the NDA rule, the Union minister said his party was only a junior partner in the Nitish Kumar government for seven and a half years.

Maintaining that only the BJP-led coalition has the vision for development, Jaitley cited the example of Madhya Pradesh where the saffron party government headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been able to shed the BIMARU (laggard) tag, long associated with the state.

There was no road, electricity, water and health infrastructure in Madhya Pradesh for a better part since Independence, but the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has succeeded in changing the face of the state in the 15 years of BJP rule.

"If Bihar continues to languish among the BIMARU category states, the onus lies on Congress, RJD and JD(U)," he said, adding that the poll-bound state fared abysmally on various parameters of development. Industries have not come up in Bihar as there has been no improvement in the power scenario, he said.