Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address at least 20 rallies in Bihar during the campaign period stretching over a month, covering all nine divisions of the State exhaustively. He will kick off his campaign by addressing a rally at Banka on October 2.
“The Prime Minister will be visiting Dumka in Jharkhand earlier in the day on October 2 for the inauguration of some court premises there, after which he will address the rally in nearby Banka,” a senior party leader said.
The party has also handed over to the Election Commission a list of over 20 leaders who will campaign for the BJP. The list includes senior leaders and Margdarshak Mandal members L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi as well as Patna MP Shatrughan Sinha, who has been making dissenting noises for a while.
The party did not clarify how many meetings and where these leaders will be campaigning. “All that has to be decided,” said a source.
Eyebrows were raised after Mr. Sinha’s frequent and very cordial meetings with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Mr. Sinha had dismissed these meetings as courtesy calls but it had not been taken well by the party. There was even talk that the party would take action against him once the polls were over. The list of campaigners, however, demonstrates that the party is determined to put up a united front.
Meetings are being held to finalise the PM’s rally venues. “He has addressed five rallies before the declaration of polls and all of them have been well received. For us, he will be the main face of the campaign,” said the source.
