The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led grand alliance or ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar on Saturday released its manifesto for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala and Shaktisinh Gohil were among the mahagathbandhan partners who were present at the manifesto release.
Addressing the media, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said that if elected to power, the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ will present a bill to scrap the three contentious farm laws brought by the NDA government at Centre.
“If we form the government, under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, we will pass a bill in the first Vidhan Sabha session to scrap the three anti-farm laws,” Randeep Singh Surjewala was quoted by ANI as saying.
Parliament has passed three farms bills recently with the Centre maintaining that the new laws will raise farmers’ income, free them from the clutches of middlemen and usher in new technology in farming.
However, several farmers’ organisation and the opposition parties have said that the farm laws will pave a way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporates.
Further hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the party is “preparing controversy in hatred factory, to divert attention”.
Meanwhile, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar saying that Bihar has a “double engine government”.
“Nitish Kumar has been governing the state for the last 15 years but it has not been accorded the special category status yet, Donald Trump will not come and accord that,” Tejashwi Yadav said.
The Congress is contesting a total of 70 seats as part of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar, with the RJD leading the coalition. The BJP will be contesting 121 seats, while the JD(U) has got 122 seats in the NDA seat-sharing arrangement but is contesting only 115.
Elections for the 243-member Bihar assembly will be held in three phases — October 28, November 3 and November 7. The coalition of the RJD, Congress and Left parties is the main challenger to the ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance in the elections.