With the conclusion of the monsoon session of Parliament, the BJP is set to deploy its biggest vote-winning asset – Prime Minister Narendra Modi – in Bihar. As part of the NDA’s strategy, PM Modi will
visit Gaya on August 22, and from August 23, the alliance will officially begin its election campaign in Bihar. Notably, the BJP has yet to launch its customary grand campaign in the state.
The BJP has opted not to campaign alone but to include all NDA constituents in Bihar, such as JDU, Hindustani Awam Morcha, LJP, and RLSP, in its extensive outreach efforts. According to sources, a total of 14 teams will be formed, each comprising seven members from both the BJP and its NDA allies. These 14 teams will be tasked with covering 84 assembly seats where the BJP anticipates elections in the first two phases.
The campaign will run from August 23 to August 30 in two phases. Each team will cover one assembly seat per day, completing six seats in six days. These specially selected teams will include Union Ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), Bihar government ministers, and seasoned leaders from all NDA alliance partners.
For instance, one such team will be led by JDU’s working president Sanjay Jha and will include colleagues like Union Minister Giriraj Singh, HAM Chief Jitan Ram Majhi, and Union Minister Nityanand Rai. Both Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, Samrat Chowdhury and Vijay Kumar Sinha, are also expected to be part of this team. This is just an example of one team’s composition.
These top leaders from the 14 teams will hold press conferences throughout Bihar, directly addressing Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ narrative. They are expected to travel through nearly 20 districts across the state, presenting a strong counter to the Congress campaign.
Congress’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has adopted an aggressive stance in the election-bound state of Bihar, where he has launched the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in collaboration with ally RJD. Joining him soon will be Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, raising their voices against both the Election Commission and the BJP. The Congress has been vigorously campaigning across Gaya, Nawada, and Nalanda, targeting the BJP.
While the Congress has already faced setbacks, the BJP is now gearing up to counter the Congress’s efforts. The first setback came from a U-turn by the CSDS-Lokniti Survey, which had initially suggested a notable decline in voter numbers in two assembly constituencies compared to the Lok Sabha elections held a few months prior in Maharashtra. This allowed the BJP to question the credibility of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’. Further, the campaign’s integrity was questioned when Ranju Devi, who had initially claimed that her family’s names were missing from the voter list, later admitted that they had been misled by local officials.
