Non-BJP parties will get more confident that BJP can be defeated after its loss in Bihar, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today.
Reacting to election results in Bihar, he said while it is too early to say what impact the results will have on national politics, he said what is clear is non-BJP parties will begin to feel more confident that the BJP can be defeated despite the fact that it commands “enormous” resources especially financial.
He said that the Opposition will now feel that “BJP is not invincible” despite its enormous resources. “I am aware of the kind of resources deployed by the BJP in the Bihar elections,” he said.
Asked whether Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could be the rallying point for a Third Front against BJP, Chidambaram said he cannot speculate and it was too early to say what Kumar will do.
“I think Nitish Kumar himself has learnt a few lessons.
“He will be happy to deliver on the agenda of development. I always found him to be a very sober and reasonable person,” he said, adding whether he would like to shift to national politics or focus on Bihar it is all too early to say.
Asked about the possible fall out of Bihar results on the upcoming Winter session, he put the onus on the government saying the Prime Minister still has time to “correct the course” and reach out to the Opposition.
Chidambaram said if the attitude of the government to the Opposition parties changes in Lok Sabha, then it could also reflect in the Rajya Sabha.
At the same time he said if they continue to abuse the Opposition and call protests against intolerance as “manufactured” then things could remain difficult for the government for which it is responsible itself.
To say in the Bihar campaign that fireworks will be let off in Pakistan if the grand alliance won reflected an “autocratic and arbitrary” attitude.
Chidambaram also disapproved of the language used by some ministers about Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. On the GST issue, he said that the opposition of the BJP to GST was “unreasoned, blind and arbitrary” while that of the Congress is based on specific objection.
He also alleged that the government and the party, which heads the government and the forces and formations which support the BJP have raised intolerance to a new level.