Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will jointly address a public rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan to kickstart the election campaign for General elections in the state. In what is said to be a “mother of rallies”, will also witness the presence of other NDA partners like Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan.
According to reports, the date of March 3 has been chosen mutually by NDA partners, because the announcement of election dates will also happen concurrently. “The NDA will highlight people-centric initiatives taken under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the country and chief minister Nitish Kumar in the state.” State JD(U) president Bashistha Narayan Singh was quoted at the Joint Press attended by BJP, JD(U) and LJP leaders. He also added that rally will witness record-public participation, as the cadre of three parties will converge at the occasion.
Nityanand Rai, BJP’s state President, said that both JD(U) and BJP will be presenting the “report card” about the works undertaken by them in the last four years. He also added that the goal of NDA in the state is to counter the misinformation campaign headed by the opposition and outweigh it by the campaign of works done by NDA partners for the state.
The rally is also seen a ”reply” to Mahagatbandhan alliance’s rally in Patna on the same ground exactly a month before on February 3. The rally on February 3 will witness Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, Hindustani Awami Morch’s Jitan Ram Manjhi, Former NDA constituent Rashtriya Lok Samata Party’s Upendra Kushwaha, and Lok Tantrik Dal’s Sharad Yadav.
Nityanand Rai said that NDA does not fear any rally by Mahagatbadnahn alliance, as they will expose them and grab all the 40 seats of Bihar, under the state leadership of Nitish Kumar. He also added that PM Modi will be the face of NDA at the country level and CM Nitish Kumar will be representing the NDA in the state. On the question asked about the BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha attending the Kolkata rally of Mahagtabandh, he said: “Right decision will be taken at the right time”.
In December, last year, NDA Bihar had announced its seat-sharing formula for the General elections. It was decided that BJP and JD(U) will fight on 17-17 seats each. Six seats were given to LJP.
JD(U) had broken ties with BJP in 2014 and had fought elections separately. BJP in 2014 had grabbed 22 seats out of the 30 it had contested in the 2014 General elections. JD(U) had won 2 seats and LJP, BJP’s ally, had won 6 seats. JD(U) returned to NDA in 2017, after a short-lived alliance with its arch-rival RJD.
