Sure to win two-thirds majority, will pick CM after results: Amit Shah

PATNA: BJP president Amit Shah on Monday claimed NDA would win the Bihar election with two-thirds majority . “We will select our CM candidate only after results are declared. The NDA will win 162 of the 243 assembly seats in Bihar,“ Shah told mediapersons. NDA's been facing criticism from the grand alliance for not naming its CM candidate. Taking up the issue, Shah said BJP will take a final call on who will be CM only after a meeting of the newly-elected NDA representa of the newly-elected NDA representatives. BJP is contesting 157 of the 243 assembly seats; its NDA partner LJP is fighting on 42, RLSP 23 and HAM S 21. Voting in 81 seats is over -49 in the first phase and 32 in the second.

The BJP chief claimed NDA would win 32-34 seats that voted in the first round and 22-24 of the second. “Our figure is on the basis of booth-level voter preferences,“ Shah said, adding voters have reposed their faith in PM Modi's development agenda. “Women, youths and the poor turned up in large num bers to vote NDA candidates,“ Shah said.

Apart from the Rs 1.65 lakh crore special package the PM promised, Shah said the Centre would also give Bihar Rs 2 lakh crore more than what the state got as per the 14th Finance Commission's recommendations.

“Bihar's people do not want to live with the Bimaru tag. They do not want return of `jungle raj'. They have been migrating for “padhai, kamai aur dawai (education, work and healthcare)' to other states,“ Shah said. “BJP-ruled Jharkhand has catapulted itself to third position on “ease of doing business“, while Bi har's dropped to 27th rank where ND Jharkhand earlier was,“ he added.

Without taking Nitish Kumar's name, Shah said Bihar's journey tords development got derailed after JD(U) wards development got derailed after JD(U) severed its ties with BJP in June 2013.

Referring to the `forward-backward fight,' as RJD chief Lalu Prasad put it recently, Shah said, “People who want to fight Bihar elections on these lines have forgotten it is not 1990. Much water has flowed down the Ganga. BJP does not practice or believe in caste politics.“