HT interview: No matter how hard he tries, no room for Nitish in GA, says Kharge

AS the high-decibel electioneering for the number one stage of Bihar gathering polls came to an terminate, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who also held a rally in Vaishali district, spoke on a range of poll-related issues. Edited excerpts of his interview with Saubhadra Chatterji:What are the major planks for the Grand Alliance in the Bihar polls?I think the young people are worried about lack of employment, migration, price rise and implementation of (revised) minimum wages in Bihar. These are the big issues for us. The NDA government’s system has also failed in Bihar. It has not done anything for the poor of the state.For political purposes, the government talks about backward castes, SC, ST and EBC (Extreme Backward Classes). But no work has been done for them by the government, except giving ₹10,000 (loan to women) right before the elections. But the government must remember that by giving ₹10,000, their problem will not be solved. In Congress-ruled states, the government is giving ₹2,000 per month. So, in these states, women are getting up to ₹24,000 annually. In Bihar, the government is trying to get votes by giving much less. Bihar government is not going to benefit from that.How can you give government jobs to every family in Bihar, as you have promised to?Bihar needs employment. That is why we have promised to give every household a government job. But this is not going to happen in a day. Definitely, it will take some time but we will soon be able to fill up the current vacancies. We will be able to create jobs.Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have attacked the Mahagathbandhan over ‘Jungle raj’, referring to the law and order situation when the RJD was in powerOn the contrary, the law-and-order situation has worsened in Bihar. Earlier, they used to say that the law and order has improved a lot since we came. But official statistics shows that there is an 80% increase in crimes in Bihar. They are talking about ‘jungle raj’ again and again. But after being in power for 20 years in Bihar, there is a 80% jump in crime. This double-engine government couldn’t control crime but they are talking about jungle raj. It is their nature. They are unable to give good governance but they talk about ‘jungle raj’. There is a lot of nonsense.Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party is also trying to woo the youth. Do you think he can eat into Opposition’s votes and dent your prospects?Look, I can’t say anything about them. I don’t have that much information on what they have done. The battle of Bihar is between the Mahagathbandhan and the NDA. Whatever the result is, it will come between these two alliances. I don’t know how much votes will be taken away by whom. But these are the only two alliances that can come to power.Bihar is the only Hindi heartland state where the BJP has never had a chief minister. This time, there is no clear announcement if Nitish Kumar will continue as the CM. Is this a big issue for the Congress to exploit?Voters of Bihar have observed that the PM is not taking Nitish Kumar along in his rallies. The BJP’s sole aim is to increase its number so that they can claim the chief minister’s post, if such as situation arises. That is the reason why the PM and the BJP have not declared Nitish Kumar as the CM face of the alliance…For us, people are important, and not Nitish Kumar or Modi. Our focus will be on what we would be doing for the people. We will focus on our agenda, our promises. We have declared a CM face. We are doing publicity for Tejashwi (Yadav) and all the leaders of the alliance are speaking in one voice.The NDA does not have any message to the people. But one thing is for sure — the BJP will not make Nitish Kumar CM this year, if the situation arises.But the Prime Minister has said that the RJD forced the Congress at gun point to declare Tejashwi as the CM face.No prime minister has ever spoken like this. I have been in politics for over 60 years. The PM’s allegations will not help him get votes. I can also say that [US] President [Donald] Trump put a gun to Modi’s head and got all the approvals.... But the PM is talking less about President Trump these days.The BJP is trying to make Operation Sindoor a key plank in the Bihar polls.Please remember, we are fighting the assembly election of Bihar. But our PM doesn’t talk about issues of Bihar and its people. He wants to talk about Operation Sindoor; how he met President Trump so many times or how he met [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Chinese premier] Xi [Jinping] and Ukrainian president.Should I point out that Trump has announced multiple times that he stopped the India-Pakistan war. He has kept the government on leash. But our PM is silent. The US is saying there will be 50% tariff, the US is dictating that we can’t buy Russian oil. Don’t do this or that. But Modi remains silent. He is busy abusing the Congress.They only talk about double-engine government. They only do publicity. If it was indeed a government of double-engine, then they should have got the full support of the Centre. And with all the support, Bihar should have been developed today. Remember, this government didn’t even grant Bihar special status.Nitish Kumar had been an ally in Mahagathbandhan twice in the past. Will you keep the door open for him this time?There is no vacancy in the chief minister’s post as far as Mahagathbandhan is concerned. There was only one chair, and we wanted Tejaswi to sit on it, and he sat down. Now there’s no space, and no matter how hard he (Nitish Kumar) tries, there’s no room.