Patna: With poll surveys indicating increase in seats for the BJP-led NDA under its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in 2014 polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday dismissed such surveys based on small samples and said those were nothing more than "entertainment programmes".
"These surveys based on sample size of only 4000 and without considering the fact that India does not have a bipolar political set up but a multi-party ethos are not true... They are nothing more than entertainment programmes," Kumar told reporters.
"Everybody knows these are PR exercise to falsely claim that nation's mood is in their favour," he said.
"When results of the elections will come, the people going euphoric over such surveys will fall flat," he said in an apparent dig at his estranged NDA partner BJP.
"All TV channels showing survey reports had predicted hung Assembly in Bihar in both 2005 and 2010 state elections, but they all proved wrong when the ballot boxes were opened," he said.
Picking holes in the recent survey reports, Kumar said while he was credited for bringing development in Bihar, it was shown that JD(U) would get not more than 9 seats out of a total 40 seats in Bihar.
"Do they mean that discredited people will win all the seats in the state?" he asked.
"Those basking in the glory of such surveys will have no place to hide their faces when the poll results will be declared," he said.
Kumar said depending upon his engagements, he would decide whether to attend a rally on secularism organised by Left parties in Delhi on October 30.
"But, somebody from the party will definitely attend it," he said, adding, that party General Secretary K C Tyagi was among the organisers.
The October 30 rally which may be attended by Samajwadi Party and others is seen as a step towards formation of a Third Front.
Asked if JD(U)'s two-day convention at Rajgir from October 28 would take a call on poll alliance, Kumar said, "This will not be in the agenda of the Rajgir convention. The meeting is basically to look into the organisational issues."
In reply to a question on a tie-up between JD(U) and Congress and whether Raghuram Rajan committee report putting Bihar in the least developed states to bolster its chance for financial assistance was an attempt in that direction, Kumar said "wait for the time".
When his reaction was sought on BJP's October-27 'Hoonkar Rally' which will be his rival Narendra Modi's maiden election engagement in Bihar, Kumar said "rallies take place in Patna by parties every now and then; so what's big about this one?"
Asked that this would be the first occasion Narendra Modi would hold a rally in Patna as he was kept out of the state during 17 years of NDA on his insistence, Kumar took help of a song to say "Raj Ko Raj Rahne Do" (let the secret be a secret).
While parties hold rallies for political gains, it was for the first time JD(U) held 'Adhikar Rally' at Patna on November 4 last year demanding special category status for Bihar, he said.
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