Bihar elections: PM Modi may clear the air about LJP in Friday rally with Nitish Kumar

PATNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar are expected to send out a strong message to the rebels as well as voters when they address a joint rally in Sasaram and Gaya on Friday, as the PM kicks off his election campaign for the upcoming assembly polls.

The rally will be addressed by the duo in order to clarify all doubts, if any, on the internal equations between the two parties, said people aware of the matter.

Both the BJP and Kumar’s JD(U) have been forced to clarify time and again that there is no underhand deal with the LJP – which has quit the ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar and put up candidates against the JD (U) – and any other rebels and that all the NDA members are firmly behind the leadership of Nitish Kumar.


A lot of confusion has already been cleared by home minister Amit Shah reiterating that no matter what Kumar will be the CM and there is no question of compromise on that score.

Leaders of NDA parties are now looking forward to the PM and CM’s joint rally. The place of the first rally, Sasaram in Rohtas, has been chosen carefully. Out of seven seats in Rohtas, five seats are being contested by the JD(U) and two by the BJP. The two most notable BJP rebels on LJP ticket are in Rohtas. Former BJP leader Rameshwar Chaurasia and Rajendra Singh are contesting from Sasaram and Dinara respectively.

LJP leader Chirag Paswan, on his part, has been trying to convey that there is some sort of agreement between the BJP and the LJP. On Sunday, he appealed to voters that they should vote for the BJP candidate from Jamui, Shreyasi Singh.

However, BJP leaders such as Bhupender Yadav, Sushil Kumar Modi and Sanjay Jaiswal have been constantly calling out Paswan for trying to confuse the voters. On Sunday, Sushil Kumar Modi did a few rallies alongside the CM in order to show unity at the top.

PM Modi’s rally is now the final part of the exercise and NDA parties hope it will mitigate all possible factors and make it a bipolar election. Kumar will be with the PM in most of the rallies.

“There are people who have lost the election and have nothing else than saying that there is a difference within the NDA. I think the joint address would be the last nail in their coffin of lies,” state minister Sanjay Jha, of the JD(U), told ET.

BJP leaders said there is no such confusion. “The doubt has already been cleared by the home minister Amit Shah himself,” said Devesh Kumar, BJP state general secretary. “Workers of all the four parties of the NDA in Bihar are working hard to make the PM's rally a grand success amidst the Covid-19 challenge.”