BJP rejigged strategy with same trump card

NEW DELHI: Bihar will go to poll for the second phase on Tuesday which will be held across 17 districts. As many as 94 seats are at stake in this phase in which the BJP will fight it out at 46 seats while the JD(U) at 43 to defeat the RJD-Congress-left alliance in the state. Interestingly the BJP rejigged its strategy in the second phase to fine-tune its attack against the RJD.

Though the left, a marginal player in the Tejashwi-Rahul alliance will just be fighting at 8 seats on Tuesday, the BJP in its campaign reorganised its strategy in terms of highlighting that. Top leaders including PM NarendraModi and BJP President JP Nadda stressed on it, repeatedly to highlight its alleged anti-industry stance which may hurt the RJD's 10 lakh job creation plank.

Even on Monday at the Samastipur rally, Prime Minister Modi questioned the left's presence in the RJD-Congress alliance, alleging they have a 'history' of closing down factories.

That's not all, in Motihari on Monday, the PM raised an even more serious charge. "Now in this election, the supporters of Naxalism and those who want to tear the country apart have joined hands with the people of Jungle Raj."

However, BJP's focus has remained 'jungle raj' of the Lalu Prasad era and repeated comparison between LED bulbs, a sign of modernity and lantern, which is also the electoral symbol of the RJD.

Be it ManojTiwary or JP Nadda, be it nukkad meetings or big rallies — the 'jungle raj' barb has been the encompassing theme in BJP's phase 2 election.

On Tuesday, in the PM's last rally of the day at West Champaran, he elaborated what does he mean by the term to those first-time voters, "People used to scratch new vehicles themselves before exiting the showroom. Quite often they used to put a dent in their own car while it was still parked in the showroom."

He further emphasised that Bihar has seen those days when people had to cough up double the extortion money if they dared to complain about it in the first place.

It wasn't Modi alone but all BJP leaders who went on front foot to attack TejashwiYadav, all through the second phase campaigning, trying to dismantle the image of a revamped new-gen RJD.

Union ministers with an array of articulation skills led the charge of the BJP apart from Nadda and Modi — Rajnath Singh, SmritiIrani, Giriraj Singh, Anurag Thakur. ManojTiwary, who is a Delhi MP but a popular Bhojpuri singer held rallies and road shows regularly. Among star constituencies that will go to poll on Tuesday is Harnaut which falls under Nalanda, that has Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's village. ShatrughanSinha's son Luv Sinha who is fighting on a Congress ticket, will also fight it out from Bankipur seat in Patna. Another VIP seat going to polls tomorrow is Raghopur Assembly constituency where Tejashwi's fight has been made tougher due to a triangular fight with the BJP and the LJP.

In another interesting development, in local placards, BJP has brought back Nitish Kumar's face which went amiss initially. However, whether it is the tribals in West Champaran or the maithili speaking Darbhanga rural voters, BJP's trump card for all seats in the second phase remains the same: PM Modi's image.

Though Nitish has made a comeback into its placards, but the slogan remains the same: ' Bhajpahai, to bharosahai' with Modi's photo taking prominence. (IANS)

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