CPI(M) releases manifesto for Bihar polls, slams NDA over governance record

Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat also expressed bewilderment over Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma calling Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi 'an agent of Pakistan'

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The CPI(M), which is a part of the opposition INDIA bloc, on Saturday issued its manifesto for the assembly elections in Bihar.

Releasing the manifesto of her party, senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat charged the ruling NDA with carrying out a "negative campaign" in the assembly elections and slandering opposition leaders out of "desperation".

"The NDA has been running a negative campaign, pointing fingers at the opposition, which was perhaps inevitable since they have nothing to showcase by way of achievements in the two decades they have been in power in Bihar," said Karat.

Referring to the killing of Jan Suraaj Party supporter Dular Chand Yadav in Mokama, where supporters of the deceased have been alleging the complicity of local JD(U) candidate and former MLA Anant Singh, Karat said that "incident is proof that mafia raj and jungle raj prevail in Bihar under the NDA rule".

"Lawlessness is not something that the INDIA bloc is going to bring to the state," she added.

Karat also expressed bewilderment over Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma calling Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi "an agent of Pakistan".

"It is appalling that BJP leaders are speaking whatever they wish without even pausing to reflect. Such things to say about someone whose family has been in public life for so long," she said.

The CPI(M) leader said her party's manifesto was in line with the INDIA bloc's commitment to ensuring employment generation in Bihar, from where "people are forced to migrate in search of livelihood to places like Gujarat, where they are denied even the minimum daily wage fixed by the government".