BJP-Grand Alliance face off in Bihar today as 2024 election campaigning heats up

Bihar is gearing up for a political saber-rattling on Saturday, when Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters at two venues and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav will hold a joint 'Mahagathbandhan' rally.

Shah will begin his tour of the state with a public meeting in the Balmiki Nagar Lok Sabha constituency, a party stronghold that was handed over to the chief minister's JD(U) in 2019 as part of a seat-sharing deal.

The event, scheduled around noon, will coincide with a 'Mahagathbandhan' rally in Purnea, more than 400 km away, where the 70-year-old CM and his 33-year-old deputy will be joined by smaller allies like the Congress and the exposed left in the state's version of a "united opposition", which Kumar in particular believes is the way forward to take on the mighty BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls.

Shah will be in the state capital a few hours after the rally in West Champaran district. He will address the 'Kisan Mazdur Samagam' organized to celebrate the birth anniversary of peasant leader and freedom fighter Swami Sahajan and Saraswati in Patna.

In Bihar, after more than four months, the home minister is also scheduled to pay obeisance in the evening at Takht Harmandir Patna Sahib, the world-renowned Sikh shrine located at the birthplace and residence of Guru Gobind Singh in his early years.

“The BJP stands on the twin pillars of organizational strength and ideological commitment, and the visit of the Union Home Minister to Bihar is a reaffirmation of the same. The Mahagathbandhan, on the other hand, chose the communally sensitive Seemanchal area to play its Muslim appeasement card,” said Nikhil Anand, state BJP spokesperson and OBC Morcha national general secretary.

Mrityunjay Tiwari, spokesperson of the RJD, to which the Deputy CM belongs and which is also the largest component of the 'Mahagathbandhan', hit back. “Purnea rally sounds trumpet for battle to oust BJP from power. Amit Shah's visit will do little. The home minister is likely to try for communal polarization, which is the only hope left for the BJP in the 2024 elections,” Tiwari said.