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Bihar polls: Nitish’s virtual campaign through party’s dedicated platform kicks off from Monday
In three days, the CM will cover 35 seats where the JD(U), and not its allies, has put up candidates.
Before the ground campaign, chief minister Nitish Kumar’s virtual campaign will get underway from Monday through the party’s dedicated digital platform, JDUlive.com. It will also be available on Facebook.
In three days, he will cover 35 seats where the JD(U), and not its allies, has put up candidates. However, many of those seats are such where the LJP has fielded candidates, including those who shifted from the BJP after the seats went to the JD(U), to create the possibility of a triangular contest.
Kumar, who is also also the national president of the JD(U), will kick off the ground campaign from October 14, said a party leader, who did not want to be quoted. With Durga Puja also starting from October 17, the parties have very little time for rallies and public meetings this time.
On Monday, he will get online at 5 pm and address workers and general public of 11 Assembly seats - Sultanganj, Amarpur, Dhoriya, Belhar, Tarapur, Jamalpur, Suryagarha, Sheikhpura, Barbigha, Nawada and Govindpur - spread across six districts.
On September 7, Kumar had launched the party’s virtual platform with ‘Nischal Samvad’. The virtual election campaign has also been given the same name with a tag line ‘Saksham Bihar, Swablambi Bihar’ and slogan, ‘Nyay ke saath tarakki, Nitish ki baat pakki (development with justice, that is what makes Nitish’s words assuring)’.
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On Tuesday, the chief minister will address people in another five districts and cover 11 Vidhan Sabha seats of Mokama, Masaurhi, Paliganj, Kurtha, Jehanabad, Ghosi, Sandesh, Avignon, Jagdishpur, Dumraon and Rajpur.
On Wednesday, he will cover another 13 constituencies in four districts, this time in Chenari, Sasaram, Kargahar, Dinara, Nokha, Obra, Nabinagar, Rafiganj, Sherghati, Belaganj, Atri, Jhajha and Chakai.
Kumar’s words will be significant as in 2020 he finds himself in a strange situation with new equations emerging and for the first time since 2005, he will be facing the attack not as much from the but from within. NDA’s ally at the Centre, the LJP, which hitherto was content enjoying the moment being on the right side, has suddenly got up to challenge Nitish’s authority, even though the BJP continues to back him and has announced him the CM candidate, irrespective of the number of seats it wins. BJP president JP Nadda also talked about the development Bihar has made under Nitish Kumar’s governance after the abysmal run under the RJD regime.
With an open letter ahead of his campaigning earlier this week, Nitish made it clear that he would count on his work to seek people’s support. Through his letter, he gave a brief account of how his government has been able to bring about a positive change in Bihar since 2005 due to “development with justice, peace and amity” and that he is likely to stick to his development agenda, which party leaders say cannot be matched by the Opposition.
“Better connectivity from all parts of the state to Patna, electricity to all, 10 lakh women self-help groups (SHGs) under Jeevika, 50 percent quota to women in panchayati raj institutions (PRIs), welfare schemes for minorities and weaker sections of the society, social campaigns against prohibition, child marriage and dowry, Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali campaign to reduce the impact of climate change, management of Covid-19 and return of Bihar labourers,” the CM said while listing out the work carried out by his government and also talked about the ‘Seven Resolves – 2’ of his new term.
Political analyst and former head, department of economics, Patna University, Nawal Kishore Choudhary said it was quite natural for the CM to recount his work, especially in the prevailing political atmosphere, to deflect the pressure being built on him. “He knows this election may not be a cakewalk, though he may again get through. This is what politics is all about and Nitish Kumar knows it. He has his work to bank on and that is what he will rightly do,” he added.
