Covid pandemic dominates Bihar’s poll narrative with cases soaring day by day

New Delhi: The political narrative of Bihar has gradually shifted from the impending state assembly elections to Covid management in the last two weeks with chief minister Nitish Kumar now facing the twin challenges of flattening the Covid-curve amid rising criticism from the opposition parties. Meanwhile, a three-member team of central government reached Patna on Sunday to assess the Covid situation.

The state saw a rising trend of corona cases with 638 new cases being recorded on Saturday, taking the total to 26,379. However, recovery rate is around 69%.

The central team, headed by Lav Kumar Agarwal, joint secretary, union ministry of health and family welfare, held talks with the top officials of Bihar’s health department. The central team mainly discussed the strategies to increase the number of testing,” a source in the state’s health department said.


While the ruling JDU continues to connect wit h people of different assembly segments through digital platforms to highlight the achievements of the Nitish government, the opposition parties have been continuously attacking the state government for its alleged failure to control the spread of corona cases in the state.

BJP’s state president Sanjay Jaiswal has also tested positive.

The state’s main opposition party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), is now trying to target the CM’s image as “Sushasan Babu”, over the spike in the Covid cases.

“…Is your image more important than the lives of our people, Mr CM...?” RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav tweeted on Saturday.

Nikhil Anand, BJP spokesperson, said the opposition parties in Bihar have done nothing during the Covid-19 period which is visible in their desperate attempt to tarnish the image of the Nitish Kumar-led government.