Lokesh urges Bihar voters to re-elect NDA for stability and progress

IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh urged the people of Bihar to give the NDA another term, citing its clean leadership and proven governance record. “The onus of preventing Bihar from slipping back into the ‘jungle raj’ lies with the people, particularly the youth,” he remarked, asserting that law and order in the State had improved significantly under the NDA’s rule.

Addressing mediapersons in Patna on Sunday during his campaign on behalf of the NDA, Mr. Lokesh described Bihar as a land of wisdom, courage, and civilisation. He said the ongoing elections marked a defining moment in Indian politics and observed that Bihar had undergone a remarkable transformation under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — just as Andhra Pradesh was progressing rapidly with Mr. Modi and N. Chandrababu Naidu at the helm.

Highlighting the gains of the NDA’s ‘double-engine government,’ Mr. Lokesh noted that both Andhra Pradesh and Bihar had received substantial allocations in the previous Union Budget. Those funds, he said, were being used to improve infrastructure, expand educational institutions, and implement key development projects. Continuity in governance, he emphasised, was vital for sustained progress, citing Gujarat and Odisha — where the BJP and Biju Janata Dal have been in power for nearly 25 years — as examples.

Mr. Lokesh cautioned that Andhra Pradesh had suffered economic setbacks and a deterioration in law and order after the change of government in 2019, warning that Bihar could face a similar situation if the NDA lost power. He dismissed the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s promise of providing a government job to every household as impractical and unrealistic, stressing that the development of Bihar was crucial to realising the vision of a “Viksit Bharat.”

TDP MPs G.M. Harish Balayogi and S. Satish Babu, BJP MLC Sanjay Mayukh, and former MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao were present at the meeting.

Later, Mr. Lokesh met Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is in charge of BJP’s Bihar election campaign. He congratulated Mr. Pradhan for his tireless efforts to bring the NDA back to power in Bihar and expressed confidence in his success. Mr. Lokesh noted that Mr. Pradhan had played a key role in the BJP’s victories in Haryana and Odisha and had been working on the Bihar campaign for over a year.