Tested Strategy, 160 Raths: Amit Shah Launches BJP Campaign in Patna Today

Mangalore Today News Network

Patna, July 16, 2015:  BJP president Amit Shah launches his party’s campaign for the crucial Bihar Assembly election today. Morning newspapers carried jacket ads which made it clear that the BJP’s face for the Bihar elections will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a strategy that has paid dividends for it in other state elections.

 

Pictures of Mr Modi and Amit Shah dominate the ad along with an announcement of a Parivartan (change) yatra; they also dominate banners draped on the 160 raths prepared for the "journey of change." 

The ad also features 15 other leaders including key allies Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi and Bihar BJP leaders like Sushil Kumar Modi and union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajiv Pratap Rudy. But the party’s prominent Muslim face in the state, Shahnawaz Hussain, has not found place in it.

In Patna today, Mr Shah will flag off the raths or chariots, which will  travel to far corners with the message that the state must vote  for a change. For years the junior partner in Bihar in an alliance with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United, the BJP  is aiming at winning 122 seats, the majority mark, on its own. Its war cry is - Abki baar BJP sarkaar.

The party’s campaign will focus on the development agenda of PM Modi and will emphasise the benefits of having the same party  in power in both the Centre and the state. PM Modi will address a rally in Muzaffarpur next week. A letter from him will be delivered to a million voters.

The BJP will also highlight what it calls the "misgovernance" of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar in their respective terms as chief minister, said party leader Bhupendra Yadav.

In the national election last year, months after Nitish Kumar ended their alliance, the  BJP came back strongly winning 31 of Bihar’s 40 seats.

The need to stall the BJP has brought once bitter rivals Nitish and Lalu together in an uneasy truce.

 

Courtesy: NDTV