The BJP has decided to field its big guns in Bihar ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The party will start with a two-day visit of Union home minister Amit Shah to the Seemanchal region in the northeast corner of the state on September 23-24.
Shah is on his first trip to the state after chief minister Nitish Kumar parted ways with the BJP. With all its urgency, it is being seen as the beginning of the party’s campaign for the general elections.
“Amit Shah ji is coming to stay in our state for two days. He will arrive at Purnea on September 23 and address a public rally. He will visit Kishanganj the next day and take stock of the implementation of the central government schemes,” BJP spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel said.
The visits of BJP national president J.P. Nadda and other top leaders, including several central ministers, will follow Shah’s Bihar stopover. They will visit different parts of the state, stay for a couple of days, meet party workers and hold public rallies.
Nitish Kumar. File picture
Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal has constituted a two-member committee of its leaders to make arrangements for Shah’s stay, while another five-member committee has been formed to oversee the arrival of other top central leaders.
Incidentally, the choice of Seemanchal region that includes Katihar, Araria and Kishanganj districts, as the starting point of the visits seems to be a part of a well thought strategy that hinges on religion. These districts have a sizeable Muslim population ranging from 30 to 68 per cent as per the 2011 census.
Sources said that the party has decided to give special attention to the state to ensure that it does not suffer a setback in the general elections.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had swept 39 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats here in 2019, but Nitish’s JDU was with it at that time.
Of the 39 seats the NDA won, the BJP got 17, JDU 16 and the then unified Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ram Vilas Paswan clinched six.
“Bihar becomes important not only because of its weight in the Lok Sabha, but also because the seats won here could offset the losses in the party’s tally elsewhere. The state is the fourth largest in terms of Lok Sabha seats after Uttar Pradesh (80), Maharashtra (48) and Bengal (42),” a senior BJP leader told The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity.
“The changed social dynamics (caste equations) due to Nitish’s shift to the Grand Alliance has emerged as a threat to our party in Bihar. This is the reason our top leaders will henceforth give special focus on taming the situation,” the BJP leader added.
The BJP had won 303 out of 545 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections, its best ever performance since the party was formed in 1980.
The BJP leaders are apprehensive that the party may not be able to repeat the performance because of losing ground in the Assembly elections in states like Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. They also find it weak in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, while Karnataka could be a challenging task.
Meanwhile, reacting to Shah’s visit, Nitish’s JDU slammed the BJP and said that the visit of Shah could be a part of hatred mongering.
“There is a sizable population of Muslims in the area where Shah will visit. They have deliberately chosen such a place and will spread hatred. They are good at doing this, but the people of Bihar have understood them and will stand with communal harmony,” JDU parliamentary board chairperson and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha said.
Some JDU leaders also said that the Union home minister should reveal the reality of his party before the public.
“Shah should tell the people about the BJP’s treachery. The way it was stabbing our party in the back just for the lust of power. It has no respect, no honour for long standing friends and allies,” JDU MLC and spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said.
