BJP relaunches Sahyog in Bihar to strengthen mass base as allies flex muscle

The resumption of Sahyog programme in Bihar comes at a time when BJP’s main ally, the Janata Dal (United) is looking to turn into a national party with significant presence in other states.

With its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar trying to enhance their political heft inside and outside the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has resumed its long-forgotten ‘Sahyog’ outreach to strengthen the party’s support base in Bihar.

Bihar BJP said Sahyog was an old party initiative which was earlier discontinued due to many reasons including Covid pandemic. (Photo -ANI)

Sahyog entails BJP ministers taking turns to hear and solve people’s grievances at state party headquarter in Patna daily, except Sundays. Ministers are assisted by a well-organised team of party leaders that pursue the highlighted issues.

“It (Sahyog) is an old programme of the party, which was discontinued for various reasons, including the Covid pandemic,” said panchayati raj minister Samrat Chaudhary, who formally re-launched the programme last week.

As per the roster, Chaudhary, along with forest and environment minister Niraj Kumar Singh Bablu and labour resources minister Jivesh Mishra meet the people on Mondays. Likewise, deputy chief minister Tarkishore Prasad, health minister Mangal Pandey and industries minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussaid hold the meetings on Tuesday. Other ministers are slotted on different days.

“People whose issues get resolved through the Sahyog programme will definitely have feelings for the party,” said Amarendra Pratap Singh, a BJP leader and Bihar agriculture minister.

The resumption of the programme comes at a time when BJP’s main ally, the Janata Dal (United) is looking to turn into a national party with significant presence in other states. Soon after taking over as the new national chief of JD(U), Rajiv Rajnan alias Lalan Singh resolved to make the party number one in the state. He also announced that the JD(U) will contest Uttar Pradesh assembly polls next year, even if BJP refused to share seats with the party.

Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief and animal husbandry minister Mukesh Sahni recently tried to install statues of former Lok Sabha MP Phulan Devi across Uttar Pradesh and said his party will fight assembly polls there. Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi too is upset after his demand for enhanced share in the government remained unheard.

Amarendra Pratap Singh said there was nothing wrong in any party’s aspirations to enlarge their support base. He, however, refrained from drawing a parallel with chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata darbar, and said that BJP didn’t believe in replicating anyone.

“We (BJP) finalise any programme on the basis of our experiences and the need to serve the masses,” said Singh, also an MLA from the neighbouring Bhojpur district.

Former head of the economics department at Patna University and a political analyst, Nawal Kishore Chaudhary said it was a delayed yet good move by BJP to aim for two targets with a single arrow. “The programme clearly gives a message to the allies that BJP is ready to take any risk. Further, it will help the party in repairing its image that was bruised during the pandemic,” said Chaudhary.

Former minister and JD(U) chief spokesman Neeraj Kumar said his party didn’t have any objection to the BJP outreach programme. “Everything is going fine in the NDA in Bihar,” he said.