It was his personal opinion, not RJD's stand: Manoj Jha on Shivanand Tiwari's picnic remark against Rahul Gandhi
Nov 16, 2020
New Delhi [India], November 16 : Responding to party leader Shivanand Tiwari's "polls were in full swing and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was on a picnic" remark during the Bihar Assembly polls, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha on Monday said it was his personal opinion and not the party's stand.
Jha added that a proper analysis of the same will be done at the right time to identify where did the grand-alliance lack in cooperation and synergy.
"It's his personal opinion and not the party's stand. There's a proper time and place for any analysis, which will be done to identify where did we lack in cooperation and synergy," Jha told ANI on being asked about Tiwari's remark.
After narrowly losing the Assembly polls in Bihar, Tiwari hit out against the top leadership of the Congress party, with whom it fought the elections as part of the Opposition Grand alliance in the state.
Terming the Congress a "shackle" for the alliance, Tiwari earlier said the party had contested on 70 seats but did not hold as many rallies.
"Congress turned out to be a shackle for the Mahagathbandhan. They had fielded 70 candidates but did not hold even 70 public rallies. Rahul Gandhi came to Bihar for just three days, Priyanka did not come, people who were unfamiliar with Bihar came here. This is not right," Tiwari said while talking to ANI earlier.
Taking a potshot at the seriousness of Congress leadership regarding the Bihar election, Tiwari said ,"Elections were in full swing here and Rahul Gandhi was having a picnic at Priyanka ji's house in Shimla."
"Is the party run like that? Allegations can be levelled that the manner, in which Congress party is being run, it is benefitting BJP... Prime Minister is older than Rahul Gandhi and did more rallies than him. Why did he do only three rallies? This shows party leadership was not serious about the Bihar election. Earlier there was news that even Piyanaka Gandhi would visit Bihar, but it did not happen either," he stated.
In the 2015, Bihar elections Congress won 27 seats from 41 but this time Congress fought for 70 seats but only got 19 seats. The RJD-led Grand Alliance won 110 seats, 12 less than the majority mark of 122. The NDA managed to secure 125 seats, and is set to form the next government in Bihar.
