It's Modi vs Rahul in Bihar tomorrow!

October 22, 2020 17:35

The political temperature in Bihar is set to go up substantially as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi take a direct plunge in electioneering Friday, addressing a series of rallies for their respective alliances in the state.

Prime Minister Modi will address three rallies at Dehri-on Sone (Rohtas district), Gaya and Bhagalpur -- to seek support for NDA nominees on different assembly constituencies going to vote in the first phase on October 28.

According to BJP sources and reports from the districts Thursday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will join Modi at the rallies in Dehri and Bhagalpur.

In Gaya, JD(U) leader in the Lok Sabha Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan will share the dais with Modi along with former chief minister and president of Hindustani Awam Morcha Jitan Ram Manjhi. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is also slated to launch his campaign in Bihar elections Friday.

He will address two rallies Friday -- at Hisua in Nawada and Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur district. Sources at the Congress as well as in the RJD said that Tejashwi Yadav, the chief ministerial face of the Mahagathbandhan, will join Gandhi at Hisua, where Congress nominee Neetu Singh is taking on sitting BJP MLA Anil Singh.

In Kahalgaon, the former Congress president will be accompanied by Shaktisinh Gohil and other senior party leaders, besides some district-level office bearers and candidates of the coalition partners.

The BJP has already launched a "carpet bombing" campaign for the Bihar polls with Union ministers Rajnath Singh, BJP president J P Nadda and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressing public meetings at various places.

Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the party's manifesto for the Bihar polls during the day which promised free COVID-19 vaccine once it has been cleared by the ICMR among others. Besides, them, BJP general secretary and in-charge of the state Bhupendra Yadav, Union minister Ravishankar Prasad, union minister of state for Home Nityanand Rai, former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state leaders such as deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, state unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal are criss-crossing the state.

From ally JD(U), its head Nitish Kumar is addressing 4-5 public meetings daily and also addressing virtual rallies to reach out to maximum number of voters.

In the opposition camp, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is holding the fort in the absence of his father Lalu Prasad. Tejashwi is addressing 8-9 rallies daily cutting short there duration for 15-20 minutes only to garner support for the candidates of his party as well as those from allies Congress and others.

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