The first PM Modi rally will be held in Sasaram on October 23, next Friday. (Proceedings)
Patna:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a dozen demonstrations in Bihar to campaign for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the October-November elections. According to the BJP, the Prime Minister will address three rallies a day and Prime Minister Nitish Kumar will share the stage with him at at least one of them.
The Prime Minister’s first rally will be held in Sasaram on October 23, next Friday. You will also visit Gaya and Bhagalpur on the same day. His last will be on November 3 at Araria.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who oversees the party’s Bihar campaign, said that on October 28 (the first voting day), Prime Minister Modi would visit Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Patna.
This is the first time that Prime Minister Modi has sought votes for Nitish Kumar, a man who fiercely opposed his rise as the BJP’s first ministerial face in 2013 and ended his alliance with the party.
Even when the alliance was in place, Nitish Kumar never allowed Modi to campaign in Bihar in the 2005 and 2010 elections, apparently out of fear that it would backfire on Muslim voters.
The ties between the two leaders have never been easy, since their rivalry when Prime Minister Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister until 2014.
In 2017, when Nitish Kumar left Lalu Yadav and Congress and resurrected his alliance with the BJP, he revised his stance on Prime Minister Modi and his bonhomia has been seen in many public events since then. They also campaigned together for the Lok Sabha elections last year when Nitish Kumar asked for votes for Prime Minister Modi.
At a virtual rally last month, Prime Minister Modi congratulated the Chief Minister of Bihar and said with an associate like Nitish Kumar, anything is possible.
“If there is will and resolve and a sahyogi (associate) like Nitish Kumar, what is not possible?” Prime Minister Modi said, while talking about rail projects, that he said they were delayed for years, but that the NDA accelerated them.
The eulogy also served as a message to another ally, Chirag Paswan, who has since stated that he will fight Nitish Kumar in the polls, although he remains committed to his alliance with the BJP.
The prime minister, as well as other BJP leaders, have repeatedly stressed that the NDA is fighting the Bihar elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar.
BJP leaders say Prime Minister Modi’s rallies will end the confusion created by Chirag Paswan, who has repeatedly claimed that he has the blessings of the BJP leadership. The leader of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) has already been warned against using images of the prime minister for his campaign. Striking a difficult balance, the BJP has split from the LJP in Bihar but keeps it as a partner at the center. “The rallies will dispel any idea that Paswan has the support of Prime Minister Modi in Bihar,” Fadnavis said.
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