Nitish Kumar to campaign for BJP candidates in Bihar by-polls

NEW DELHI: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will campaign for the BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha by-poll in Araria this week, doing joint rallies with Deputy CM Sushil Modi. Kumar will also hold rallies in Jehanabad, where JDU has put up a candidate.

This comes after BJP decided to offer the Jehanabad by-poll seat to the JDU after Kumar had chosen to sit out of the three upcoming by-elections in the state. Both Araria and Jehanabad are key contests and these seats are held by the RJD whose leader Tejashwi Yadav has been camping in Araria “The Chief Minister and the Deputy CM will jointly tour Araria on March 7 and conduct two rallies there. Araria has become a prestigious contest and our alliance is keen to snatch the seat from the RJD. The CM will hold a public meeting in Bhabua on March 8and two more rallies in Jehanabad,” a senior party functionary told ET.

The CMs presence is expected to give a fillip to the NDAs campaign as his appeal to the broad section of voters, especially Muslim voters who dominate Araria, is expected to counter the Yadav-backward-Muslim consolidation in Seemanchal in the favour of the RJD after the Mahagathbandan broke. BJP and JDU, contesting separately in 2014, had together polled more votes than the RJD in Araria. “The Jehanabad contest will also be fierce with Kumar campaigning there for JDU’s candidate. The CM has also decided to campaign for the BJP candidate in Bhabua,” the party functionary said.


Deputy CM Sushil Modi will also conduct road shows in all the three constituencies as BJP aims at people connect in the state where it could not win power in the 2015 polls.