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PM Modi, Shah, Pradhan, Delhi CM among BJP star campaigners
BJP unveils star campaigners for Bihar elections, including PM Modi and Delhi CM Rekha Gupta, focusing on urban and women voters. Polls on Nov 6 & 11.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released its list of star campaigners for the Bihar assembly elections, to be held next month. The list is a who’s who of the party, featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cabinet bigwigs and BJP-ruled state chief ministers.
Among the marquee names is Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta. As a debutant MLA, she became the CM shortly after the BJP’s victory in the Delhi assembly elections. Her experience of conducting campaigns, party work at the level of Mahila Morcha and her reputation as an emerging leader make her a tactical choice for winning over urban and women voters in Bihar.
She is joined by other prominent campaigners, including former Union minister Smriti Irani, one of the party’s most prominent and recognisable female leaders. She is widely known for her strong oratory skills and her aggressive, high-energy style of campaigning.
The list also featured the brains that will implement the nitty-gritty strategies at the grassroots level. It includes Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who has been appointed the party’s in-charge for Bihar, along with important co-in-charges such as CR Patil and Keshav Prasad Maurya.
Pradhan has led BJP campaigns in Odisha and Haryana, and his organisational deep networks and caste-level outreach capabilities make him the natural choice to lead the BJP’s Bihar foray. Patil, who handles the Union jal shakti ministry, was put on poll duty as his party’s co-in-charge. He has past experience in Bihar campaigns and is seen as a solid organisational hand. Maurya, Uttar Pradesh deputy CM, adds electoral heft from one of the BJP’s most important Hindi heartland states.
The list also includes celebrity parliamentarians such as Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan and Dinesh Lal Yadav “Nirahua,” who will serve as major rally pullers.
The roster presents a mix of broad appeal and strategic architecture. While figures like Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are proven vote magnets, politicians such as Pradhan, Patil and Maurya are expected to manage the complex ground game, from booth management to alliance coordination.
On Wednesday, the BJP released the list of all its 101 candidates set to contest the polls in Bihar, which featured senior leaders Samrat Choudhary, Vinay Kumar Sinha, Nand Kishore Yadav, Renu Devi, as well as Commonwealth gold medalist Shreyasi Singh and popular folk singer Maithili Yadav, among others. The Bihar Assembly elections will be conducted in two phases on November 6 and November 11. The counting of votes will take place on November 14.
