Modi brings full NDA brass to Bihar; INDIA bloc leans on Tejashwi as Rahul stays off stage

New Delhi: Poll-bound Bihar saw a full-force show of strength from the NDA on Friday, led personally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as the opposition INDIA bloc appeared to lean almost entirely on RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on the ground.

Modi held back-to-back rallies in Samastipur and Begusarai and asked voters to give the BJP-led coalition a “record-breaking” mandate. The Prime Minister was flanked by key NDA allies, with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sharing the stage along with Union ministers Chirag Paswan (LJP-R), Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM) and Upendra Kushwaha (RLM), in what the BJP projected as a united front.

The NDA’s spread on the day went beyond the Prime Minister. Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed rallies in Siwan and Buxar. BJP president J P Nadda met “intellectuals” in Vaishali. Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held election meetings in Gopalganj and Darbhanga. The signal from the ruling side was clear: the entire national leadership was active across Bihar.

On the other side, the INDIA bloc’s campaign on Friday was effectively carried by Tejashwi Yadav alone. Yadav, who was named the bloc’s chief ministerial face just a day earlier, addressed public meetings in Patna, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur and Vaishali after spending the past week indoors finalising tickets and negotiating between alliance partners. 

Senior INDIA bloc leaders, including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and other national figures who had campaigned in Bihar earlier this month, were not seen on stage in Friday’s push, leaving Yadav as the bloc’s main voice.

Why is Rahul Gandhi abscent in Bihar?

Congress sources said it's strategic decision, and the joint manifesto launch and the main Congress-led push - with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge - starts October 28 in Patna, after Chhath, and that senior Congress leaders will enter the Bihar campaign at that stage. Rahul Gandhi is also expected to campaign, but not in every local stop where Tejashwi is building his personal pitch as CM.

Modi's all-round attack

Modi told voters that the RJD and Congress represented a return to “jungle raj”, saying, “It was exactly 20 years ago that your parents voted against ‘jungle raj’, which led to the formation of a new government under Nitish Kumar. You must now ensure that ‘jungle raj’ is kept at bay.” He also called the INDIA bloc a “Mahalathbandhan in which constituents beat each other with sticks”, and said it was led by “those out on bail”.

Shah echoed the attack and said Bihar would celebrate a “second Diwali” on November 14, the day of counting, by “decimating the son of Lalu”.

Yadav, who repeatedly referred to himself as “not afraid”, pushed back and alleged that central investigating agencies were being used only against the opposition. He also questioned the BJP’s pitch around stability and leadership.

According to Yadav, while the NDA says the election is being fought “under the leadership of Nitish Kumar”, it is not giving Bihar a clear assurance that Kumar will be allowed to continue for a record fifth straight term. The Prime Minister, meanwhile, presented Nitish Kumar and other NDA partners on stage as proof of cohesion in the coalition.

Modi also targeted the RJD-Congress alliance for “arrogance”, accusing it of sidelining the JMM from Jharkhand, which had sought to contest seats in Bihar, and of “taking for a ride” Mukesh Sahni, the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief who has been promised a deputy chief minister’s post.

Yadav later posted footage of a roadshow in Vaishali, which includes his own Raghopur constituency, and addressed Modi directly in a message aimed at first-time and young voters.

“Modi ji, just look at this vast crowd of youths, who are out on the streets late in the evening in Vaishali. They are not interested in your stale boasts. They want a vision for the next 20 years. The NDA has been ruling Bihar for 20 years,” he wrote.

“Would you please give an account of what you have done for Bihar, vis-a-vis your home state of Gujarat? You can cool your heels in Gujarat after cheating the people here. But, I have to live here and shall die here,” Yadav said.

According to the Election Commission, 1,302 candidates remain in the fray for 122 seats that vote in the second and final phase on November 11. In the first phase, on November 6, 1,314 candidates are in the contest.

Chainpur, Sasaram and Gaya Town have the highest number of candidates at 22 each. Banmankhi has the lowest, with five. All four seats go to polls in the second phase.

Seat-sharing reflects the two contrasting blocs. In the NDA, the BJP and JD(U) are contesting 101 seats each, LJP-R has 29 and HAM and RLM have six each. In the INDIA bloc, the RJD has 143 seats, followed by the Congress (61), CPI(ML) Liberation (20), VIP (16), CPI (9) and CPI(M) (4).