Modi rally to fire up NDA’s Bihar campaign

Patna: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to sound the NDA’s poll bugle for the Lok Sabha elections during a maga rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on March 3, a month after the Congress held an impressive Jan Akansha Rally at the same venue.

According to BJP and JD(U) leaders, the mammoth event would serve as a befitting reply to the RJD-led Opposition parties which have been involved in a campaign against the NDA.

Political analysts are of the opinion that the success of the massive Mahagathbandhan rally in Kolkata on January 9 and Rahul Gandhi’s Jan Akansha Rally in Patna on February 3 has raised political temperature in Bihar and other states. The NDA’s Sankalp rally, they said, could be an effort to counter the expanding political base of Mahagathbandhan.

“The NDA’s Sankalp Rally is going to be historic because we are expecting a massive gathering at Gandhi Maidan. We are trying to arrange 30 trains to ferry NDA supporters from across the state,” JD(U) general secretary and Rajya Sabha member R.C.P. Singh said.

The NDA’s Sankalp rally will be jointly addressed by Prime Minister Modi, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan.

The public meeting holds significance because the Prime Minister and Bihar chief minister will share a political stage for the first time after 2010.

Nitish Kumar had ended his 17-year alliance with BJP in 2013 after Narendra Modi was declared the Prime Ministerial candidate ahead of 2014 general elections.

However, his party won just two seats in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Of the total 40 seats in Bihar, the NDA had won 31 in 2014.

After the Lok Sabha elections, the JD(U) had got into an alliance with RJD and Congress in Bihar during 2015 Assembly elections and returned as chief minister. After dumping the RJD-Congress-led grand alliance in July 2017, Nitish Kumar returned to NDA fold and formed a government in Bihar with BJP’s support.

Mr Kumar’s return had resulted in splitting the NDA as two of its constituents Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) joined hands with RJD and Congress.

As per the seat-sharing formula, the JD(U) and BJP in Bihar would contest on 17 seats each and Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP will get the remaining six seats for the 2019 general elections.

BJP insiders said that the Prime Minister may also use the rally to showcase the achievements of his government and may ask the Congress to present the report card of their governments during election campaigns.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled every promise he made to the people of the country. It’s the Congress which has been misleading the masses for political gains. We want the Congress to present the report card of the last 55 years,” BJP state president Nityanand Rai said.   

An NDA insider said that besides the March 3 rally, the JD(U) and BJP have also been busy organising series of political events in other parts of the state to connect with people and popularise welfare schemes and policies launched by the PM.  BJP leaders, including ministers, have been asked to strengthen Panchayat and booth-level committees to achieve success in the 2019 elections. BJP insiders said that the party has also deputed working committee members who have been spending a fortnight each with booth-level workers.