Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary emphatically rejected Tejashwi Yadav's allegations against the BJP and NDA on Ambedkar Jayanti, reiterating the alliance's commitment to social justice and openly backing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the NDA's face in the 2025 Assembly elections.
Addressing the rollout of the Dr. Ambedkar Samagra Seva Abhiyan, a government outreach program among Dalit and deprived communities, Choudhary stated the campaign is in tune with "Babasaheb Ambedkar's vision of inclusive growth." Under the initiative, officials will travel to Dalit colonies to check whether welfare schemes like Ujjwala Yojana, Ayushman Bharat, and development projects like roads and drainage networks are reaching there.
Shortcomings, wherever identified, would be corrected," Choudhary assured.
In answer to Tejashwi Yadav's personal attack on the BJP as being "anti-reservation" and alleging that the NDA was defiling the memory of Ambedkar, Choudhary retaliated by making a direct personal criticism and accused the parents of Yadav — Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi — of governing with a period of misgovernance.
You speak of constructing universities, but your government constructed only two out of the ten sanctioned. Nitish Kumar constructed 23 universities," Choudhary stated.
Tejashwi, in his Ambedkar Jayanti address, had said that though Grand Alliance brought 65% reservation in Bihar, the Centre led by BJP did not incorporate it into the Constitution's 9th Schedule. He also levelled allegations of factionalism within the NDA, saying that each of the leaders in the alliance coveted the chief ministerial position.
Replying to these allegations, Choudhary refuted any division and explained recent comments by Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini portraying him as the next CM. "The NDA is intact. We will fight the elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. He is and will continue to be our Chief Ministerial face," he stated.
Appreciating Nitish Kumar's efforts toward the development of Bihar, Choudhary emphasized achievements like full electrification of villages, enhanced road networks, and providing employment opportunities.
"If given five more years, we'll provide employment avenues which will cause people who left Bihar for a job to come back," he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, HAM chief and Union MSME Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi voiced the voice of democratic choice, arguing that the election of the new CM should happen through the normal legislative procedure. "Let people vote. Let the elected MLAs determine who will lead. That is the democratic process, as defined by Baba Saheb Ambedkar," he said in Patna.
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