New Delhi: Just a day ahead of polling for the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday released a video message for the voters, urging them to elect the Mahagathbandhan to bring change in the state.
The interim Congress president also attacked the incumbent BJP-JDU government in Bihar for "deviating" from its path.
"The Bihar government has gone astray. High on power and its ego, current Bihar Government has deviated from its path. Neither their talk nor doing is good. Labourers are helpless, farmers are anxious and youth disappointed," Gandhi said.
"The fragile state of the economy is overshadowing the lives of people. Dalits, backward class people are being subjected to continuous oppression. Bihar is in crisis today," she added.
Taking a jibe at the ruling alliance, she called the state and Centre 'bandi governments' for implementing Notebandi (demonetization), Talabandi (lockdown), Vyaparbandi (trade ban) which lead to an economic crisis.
"Bihar has qualities in its hands -- skill, strength, power of construction. However, unemployment, migration, inflation, and starvation have reduced them to tears and given them blisters in their feet. Policy and governments cannot be created on the basis of fear and crime. That's why, now it is time to move from darkness to light, from lies to truth, from present to the future," she added.
The Congress President urged the people of Bihar to vote for the Mahagathbandhan, claiming that it will bring a change in the state.
Earlier, Congress had planned a virtual rally of Sonia Gandhi for Bihar elections. However, due to the ill-health of the Congress President, it was decided that she would release a video message for the voters of Bihar, said a source from the party.
As many as 16 districts of Bihar will go to polls in the first phase on Wednesday. A grand alliance has been formed between the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, whose Chief Ministerial candidate is Tejashwi Yadav.
Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi will address two rallies in Bihar, on Wednesday, at Valmikinagar and Kuseshwar Sthan. This will be the second time when he will have a face-off with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for election campaigning in Bihar, as PM Modi will also be addressing three rallies on the same day.
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