Nitish Kumar vs Amit Shah in Bihar as parties kick off 2024 election campaign

Patna:

Bihar will see a major show of strength today between the ruling Grand Alliance and the opposition NDA, as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP’s key strategists, tour the state campaigning for their respective political fronts.

Mr Kumar will hold a joint rally of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Purnia in the eastern part of the state. The 70-year-old chief minister will be joined by his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and leaders of smaller allies like the Congress and the Left in the demonstration. “United Opposition” Mr Kumar, in particular, believes that the BJP can be defeated in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Tejashwi Yadav’s father and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Yadav, who recently returned to India after kidney transplant surgery in Singapore, is also expected to be present via video.

Over 400 km away, Amit Shah will address a public meeting in the Balmiki Nagar Lok Sabha constituency, a party stronghold that was given to the chief minister’s JD(U) in 2019 under a seat-sharing arrangement. After addressing a party meeting there, Mr. Shah will go to Patna to address another meeting of farmers.

RJD president Lalu Yadav, who recently returned to India after kidney transplant surgery in Singapore, is also expected to be present via video.

The Home Minister, who is visiting Bihar after a gap of more than four months, is also scheduled to pay respects at Takht Harmandir Patna Sahib, the world famous Sikh pilgrimage site located at the place where Guru Gobind Singh was born He was and lived his life. early years.

“The BJP stands on the twin pillars of organizational strength and ideological commitment and the Union Home Minister’s visit to Bihar is a confirmation of the same. On the other hand, the Grand Alliance has chosen the communally sensitive Seemanchal region to play its card of Muslim appeasement.” State BJP spokesperson and OBC Morcha national general secretary Nikhil Anand said, according to PTI.

The RJD, which is the largest constituent of the “grand alliance”, alleged that Amit Shah’s visit would “accomplish little”.

“One job of BJP is to spread hatred and create riots in the country, society. On the other hand, we will give a message of peace and harmony. People of Bihar have decided to remove BJP from power in 2024.” News agency ANI quoted Tejashwi Yadav as saying.