Both the Congress and the ruling Janata Dal (United) are gearing up to organise rallies in Patna to showcase their strength, ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The Congress will be organising its ‘Jan Akanksha Rally’ on February 3 on its own after a gap of several years, while the JD(U) too will hold a rally to share the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a gap of nine years.
The roads, bridges and electric poles here have been adorned with posters and billboards of Congress leaders inviting people for the scheduled rally. Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be attending the rally, along with other Grand Alliance leaders. This will be Rahul Gandhi’s first visit to Bihar after assuming charge as Congress president.
Chalo chale, Rahul ko sune (let’s go to hear Rahul Gandhi); T akht badal do, taj badal do , Chor-chaukidar ka raj badal do (change the podium, change the crown, change the regime of protector who himself is a thief) are some of the slogans written on these posters with pictures of State Congress leaders.
The State Congress leaders, including president Madan Mohan Jha, State in-charge of the party Shaktisinh Gohil, have been visiting different districts to mobilise people for the proposed rally. “It will be a historic rally which will herald the end of NDA rule in the country”, said Bihar Pradesh Campaign Committee (BPCC) chief and party’s Rajya Sabha MP Akhilesh Singh.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) supremo Upendra Kushwaha and others are also expected to participate in the Congress rally. However, there have also been talks of murmuring between Congress party and RJD over numbers of seats to contest in the state in upcoming Lok Sabha poll. Apparently enthused with the recent assembly poll results in three Hindi-heartland states, the Congress party is said to have been demanding 16 seats while, the RJD has offered them 10 seats. In last 2014 LS poll, Congress had won just two seats of Kishanganj and Supaul. “All the allies in Grand Alliance have to be taken care…everyone has to sacrifice from their quotas in the larger interest to defeat BJP”, said senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari. However, party leader and younger son of Lalu Prasad, Tejaswi Yadav recently had said “there was no confusion over seat sharing in GA in Bihar…let the time come and everything will be declared”. The state Congress leaders too said “the confusion over sear sharing among GA alliance partners is only in media…but, yes after the assembly result of three states our position has gained strength and moreover, we’re the national party”, said a state Congress leader. “What happened in Uttar Pradesh will not be repeated here in Bihar”, he assured further.
Similarly, the JD(U) too has been gearing up for a counter rally to be held either on February 24 or March 4.
The date has not been finalised yet but “Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the rally is almost final,” said a party leader. “The moment everything will be finalized we’ll let it know to media”, CM Nitish Kumar said recently. It will be after a gap of nine years that PM Modi and Mr Kumar would be sharing the stage for an election rally in Patna. The last time the two leaders shared stage for an election rally was in 2010 in Punjab. Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan too will participate in the proposed rally.
