File photo of BJP president Amit Shah with party leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain at an election rally. (Press Trust of India photo)
Buoyed by 57 per cent voter turnout in the first phase of polling on 49 constituencies in Bihar, BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahanwaz Hussain today said the NDA will get a decisive mandate in the Assembly polls with two-thirds majority.
"I am confident that the NDA will ride on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity with the people of Bihar by getting a decisive mandate with two-thirds majority in the assembly polls and form the next government," he told PTI.
The Prime Minister's leadership and his special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for Bihar has won the hearts of the people of the poll-bound state and it will translate into a massive verdict in favour of the NDA at the hustings, Mr Hussain said.
Sensing a "strong mood" among voters for change of guard in Bihar, the senior BJP leader said the NDA was fully geared up to meet a big challenge on development front and expressed confidence that the next government to be headed by a BJP Chief Minister will be equal to that task to meet all those challenges in partnership with the Central government over the next five years.
On RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar taunting the BJP for not announcing its chief ministerial candidate for Bihar by asking to name 'dulha' (groom), Mr Hussain said that the saffron party does not believe in 'dulha culture' but views the occupant of the chief ministerial post as 'pradhan sevak' (chief servant) of the state, a lexicon coined by the Prime Minister for himself upon assuming the reins at the Centre last year.
"If Nitish Kumar is happy at being projected as 'dulha' let him do so, but in our party (BJP), the chief ministerial candidate will always be deemed as pradhan sevak," he said and asked the grand secular alliance stalwarts not to worry about the NDA's chief ministerial candidate, which will be decided by the BJP's parliamentary board.
With a section of media still speculating about his candidature for the Chief Minister's post, Mr Hussain sought to play with straight bat saying that the matter will be decided by the parliamentary board.