Our voters went with NDA out of fear that RJD will bring back jungle raj: Jan Suraaj
Patna, Nov 15 (PTI): Former poll strategist Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj Party, which failed to open its account in the Bihar assembly, on Saturday claimed that a section of its voters ended up siding with the BJP-led NDA "out of fear of return of jungle raj under the RJD".
Addressing a press conference here a day after the poll results were announced, its national president Uday Singh also claimed "polarisation" took place in the Seemanchal region in the aftermath of the blast near Red Fort in Delhi, a day before the November 11 polling was held in the area.
"I can say there was fear of the return of jungle raj under the RJD. Although I am not saying that there has been any jungle raj, the fear was there. Many people, who would have given us a chance, ended up voting for the NDA out of that fear," said Singh, the former BJP MP.
He added, "Let me make a distinction here. I am saying people had a problem with RJD, not with the Congress or other constituents of the opposition Mahagathbandhan".
Singh, a former MP from Purnea, also said another factor came into play after the Delhi blast that claimed the lives of at least 13 people.
"I was in the Seemanchal region and the incident did lead to polarisation of votes," he said.
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He also lamented, "Our Muslim brethren did not repose enough trust in us. This was despite the fact that we have been reaching out to them. But we are sure they will support us in the long run".
The party was said to have caught the imagination, especially of upper caste youth, by raising pressing issues such as unemployment, migration and the dearth of industries in the state.
However, this did not translate into enough votes, despite an energetic campaign by Kishor and his team, and the party's vote share, according to Singh, stood at a paltry "four per cent".
The Jan Suraaj leader also said, "We are disappointed with the outcome of the assembly polls, but not upset. Though we have not won even a single seat, we will keep opposing the ruling NDA."
He claimed that "since June, till polls were announced, Rs 40,000 crore were splurged" by the Nitish Kumar government to "purchase" votes of the people through public money".
"The scale was unprecedented. Even money raised through a World Bank loan of Rs 14,000 crore has been diverted for doles and freebies," alleged Singh, who, incidentally, is the younger brother of former Finance Commission chairman N K Singh.
Referring to Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana, under which Rs 10,000 each was transferred to the bank accounts of women in the state, he said, "It must have been for the first time that people kept getting the money till a day before voting took place, despite the model code of conduct. This was enough to sway women who may have been hand-to-mouth."
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Singh said the Jan Suraaj is now waiting to see "how the government will transfer the remaining Rs 2 lakh that it has promised to the accounts of women in the state".
He also claimed that the space for opposition remained there in Bihar, despite the landslide victory of the NDA, which has "polled less than 50 per cent of total votes".
Responding to a query on whether Prashant Kishor would remain active in politics as the JD(U) won more than 25 seats, Singh said, "You should ask this question to Kishor only".
Kishor had previously claimed that he would quit politics if Nitish Kumar's JD(U) won more than 25 seats. The party bagged 85 seats in the assembly polls.
Singh, however, added, "We still believe that the NDA, including the JD(U), would have been decimated had public money not been splurged to buy out votes. Please remember that it was not until the Jan Suraaj Party promised Rs 2,000 old age pension that the government raised the amount from Rs 700 to Rs 1,100 per month".
ALSO READ: We couldn't win an election that was not fair from beginning: Rahul on Bihar poll results
He also made light of the "vote theft" charge by the INDIA bloc, most notably the Congress, saying, "We believe names deleted during SIR were mostly of those who were dead or had migrated to other places. Even if there were a few anomalies, these could not have been on a scale large enough to make much of a difference".
The ruling NDA decimated the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar on Friday to retain power, reaffirming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's enduring appeal and dealing a body blow to the Congress and ally RJD.
The massive scale of the victory of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) can be gauged from the fact that its two main constituents -- the BJP and the JD(U) -- clocked a nearly 85 per cent strike rate in 101 seats each they had contested.
The alliance secured a "200 paar" win for a three-fourths majority in the 243-member Bihar assembly with the BJP emerging as the single largest party.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
