Bihar polls: Union Ministers camp in Seemanchal as BJP digs in for last round

NEW DELHI: With campaigning for the fourth phase getting over on Friday, BJP is putting all its might for the fifth phase and the strategy includes camping by its union ministers and senior party functionaries in the Seemanchal region of Bihar till the campaign and polling gets over so that the party improves its electoral prospects in the minority-dominated areas where it hardly has any presence.

BJP Chief Amit Shah is leading from the front by spending the night in some constituency instead of returning to Patna in the evening. Shah, who has been addressing five to six public meeting every day, spent the night in Madhubani on Thursday and will now make Katihar his base for the last phase, according to party sources.

Union Ministers Radha Mohan Singh is based in Motihari while his cabinet colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad will operate from Dharbhanga. BJP general secretary in-charge of Bihar, Bhupendra Yadav has been camping in Madhepura while Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Vidhan Parishad Sushil Modi will shift base to Purnea and campaign from there. However, BJP election in-charge and union minister Anant Kumar as well as the co-incharge Dharmendra Pradhan have been kept mobile. Pradhan will be back in Bihar from New Delhi—he was away for ministerial work—on Saturday, sources said.

The fifth phase is the weakest phase for the BJP as constituencies like Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnea and Araria, all having sizable Muslim population, mainly forming the votebase of RJD and JD(U). Though the party claims it will get the requisite majority in the fourth phase itself, sources say this being a close contest the fifth phase has become very crucial for BJP.

Asked about the strategy, BJP secretary Srikant Sharma told ET, “If a cabinet minister spends time in a district headquarter it boosts the morale and enthusiasm of the party worker manifold.”