Sonia, Nitish to share dais

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, arguably for the first time in her political career, is likely to share dais with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on August 30, the day when the grand secular alliance will hold Swabhiman rally at the historic Gandhi Maidan here.

Sonia has held joint rallies with Lalu Prasad earlier, but this will be for the first time that she will be sharing a platform with Nitish, her new-found ally. Touted as the show of strength by the JD (U)-RJD-Congress combine, the alliance is leaving no stone unturned to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi a befitting reply. Modi, just two days back, had announced a special financial package of Rs 1,25,000 crore for the cash-strapped State. The largesse by the BJP-led government is seen as extending an olive branch to the poll-bound state, where the NDA would like to register its victory and have its first chief minister since Independence.

Notably, Bihar is one state which has seen chief ministers from either Congress or Janata Parivar, but never from the BJP. It’s against this backdrop that the three secular forces have joined hands to take on the BJP-led alliance and its special package announced by Modi.
“It’s not a package. It’s repackaging. Take for example, the Rs 8,870 crore announced for railways in Bihar. Most of the projects were either announced during my tenure as the railway minister or my successor in Rail Bhavan Lalu Prasad,” said Nitish.