New Delhi: Ahead of the Bihar assembly polls, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday made a fervent appeal to voters to herald change in the state and build a ''new Bihar'', alleging that the JDU-BJP government there has deviated from its path and was high on power and ego.
In a four-minute video ahead of the first phase of voting on Wednesday, she said the present dispensation led by Nitish Kumar is neither saying good nor doing good and labourers are helpless, farmers are upset and youth disappointed with it.
"Drunk on power and arrogance, the government in Bihar has deviated from its path. Their words and deeds are suspect. The labourers are helpless, the farmers are upset and the youth are disappointed. People are bearing the brunt of the fragile state of the economy.
"A serious crisis has befallen the farmers of India. The lives of Dalits and Mahadalits have been destroyed and similar is the fate of the backward sections of society," she charged.
"The people of Bihar are with the Congress Mahagathbandhan and this is the call of Bihar," she also said.
Gandhi alleged that the governments in Delhi and Bihar have brought demonetisation, lockdown, economic shutdown and shut employment and called upon people of state to build a "new Bihar" for the next generation and crop.
"Time has come for ushering in change in the state," she said, noting that governments cannot be formed on fear and crime.
Voting for the first phase of Bihar assembly elections is on Wednesday with 71 constituencies going to vote in six districts, including some of the Naxal-hit areas.
The second and third phase of polling will be held on November 3 and November 7 and the counting on November 10.
