BJP national president J.P. Nadda visited Patna on Thursday and participated in the Chhath Puja, triggering a backlash from the Opposition RJD for trying to tap the religious sentiments of the people ahead of next year’s Bihar Assembly elections.

Nadda arrived at Patna on Thursday afternoon and took a ferry ride with chief minister Nitish Kumar in the Ganga to greet lakhs of devotees who had assembled on the river bank to perform rituals for the Chhath Puja.

Nadda spent the rest of the evening participating in the festival at the residences of BJP ministers Nitin Nabin, Mangal Pandey, and MLC Anil Sharma.

RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwary said: “Nadda is coming to Patna to do politics in a festival like Chhath. The BJP remembers Bihar and Chhath during the election year. He travelled with Nitish Kumar in a boat in the Ganga, but does not know that it is going to sink in the next Assembly polls.”

Reiterating, Janata Dal United (JDU) spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar said: “The RJD is unable to digest Nadda coming to Patna to participate in the Chhath festival with chief minister Nitish Kumar. It is quite natural, but its leaders should clarify why Chhath is not being celebrated by Rabri Devi and her family like yesteryears to seek better health for party chief Lalu Prasad. It seems they are political landlords who have lost faith in the festival.”

Several BJP leaders pointed towards their national president’s roots in Bihar. Nadda was born and brought up in the Patna as his father was a professor at Patna University.

“It is true that Nadda has his roots in Patna. He has a right to visit here, but at the same time there is no doubt about its political purpose,” social activist and professor N.K. Chaudhary told The Telegraph.