Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. , Photo Credit: ANI
With the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 fast approaching, the battle between the seven-party alliance of the Grand Alliance and the BJP on the Bihar turf is intensifying. While the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) will hold a joint rally in northeast Bihar’s Purnia district on February 25, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to make his third visit to the state after the JD(U) parted ways with the BJP. In August 2022.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) said, “We will hold a joint rally of all the seven parties in Purnia from where Amit Shah addressed his first rally in September 2022. They (BJP) want to destroy regional parties, but we will not allow that to happen.” ) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav told media persons on 10 February.
Mr. Yadav said that an internal survey in the BJP had presented a very dismal picture for the party in the run-up to the 2024 elections. “Ever since the survey said that the BJP will lose 37 of the total 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar and the fight for the other three seats will be very tough, the party has come under panic,” Mr. Yadav said.
offer on the table
Meanwhile, party sources in Bihar BJP told Hindu It has chalked out a strategy to bring together the two warring factions of the erstwhile Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) led by former Chief Minister and Mahagathbandhan ally Jitan Ram Manjhi and Chirag Paswan and his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras to counter the state’s vote bank. Mahagathbandhan.
However, Mr Paswan has always been reluctant to offer this as long as his uncle is part of the NDA at the Centre. “Besides, Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party and leaders like Upendra Kushwaha, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh are also in touch with the BJP,” said a senior BJP leader in Bihar. A careful political plan for the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats.
Shah’s visit
Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s scheduled visit to the state, the third in the last five months, is aimed at energizing party leaders and workers from the state. Shri Shah is going to participate in the birth anniversary program of farmer leader Swami Sahajanand Saraswati at Bapu Auditorium in Patna on 22 February. Born in the upper caste Bhumihar community, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati fought against the landlords in the first half of the 20th century. This program is being organized by Vivek Thakur, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and son of senior BJP leader CP Thakur in Bihar.
Earlier, Mr Shah had visited Purnia and Kishanganj on September 23-24 last year to address a public meeting and meet party leaders and workers to deliberate on the party’s strategy for the upcoming parliamentary elections. Later, on October 11, Mr Shah participated in the birth anniversary celebrations of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan at Sitab Diyara in the state.
The Home Minister’s visit to Bihar again on February 22 assumes significance as it has been planned at a time when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is currently on his tour. Samadhan Yatra (Samadhan Yatra), election strategist Prashant Kishor is running a Jan Suraj Yatra And also that caste based survey is going on in the state.
“Since the Lok Sabha elections just a year back, the two blocs of political parties in Bihar – the Grand Alliance and the BJP have started taking strong steps to outdo each other. In Bihar’s caste-ridden society, both the political blocks are trying to eat into each other’s vote bank,” said political analyst Ajay Kumar.