Bihar Assembly Elections 2025 | Rains pour cold water on leaders’ campaign plans

Patna: Incessant rains for the last three days have poured cold water on the plans of top leaders of all the major political parties to campaign in poll-bound Bihar.

At least 22 scheduled helicopter flights were cancelled due to inclement weather and poor visibility in Bihar in the last three days. This comes as a setback to all those politicians who had planned to canvas during the last moment as barely three days are left before campaigning for the first phase of election in 121 seats, out of 243, ends on November 4. The first phase of polling is slated for November 6.

On Saturday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah too had to wait for hours so that his helicopter could take off for Gopalganj. Eventually, Shah had to forgo his plan to fly and he addressed the rally in virtual mode. Shah promised ‘sweet dreams’ to the voters of Goplaganj by assuring them to reopen closed sugar mills, a similar promise which Prime Minister Narendra Modi too made during 2014.

Priyanka's visit

Notwithstanding the inclement weather and incessant rain, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who had to cancel her Bihar tour on October 28, on Saturday addressed a rally in Begusarai where she canvassed for party nominee Garib Das who is pitted against Mahagatbandhan ally CPI’s Awadhesh Rai, besides the BJP nominee Surendra Mehta.

Priyanka, who could not take a helicopter ride due to poor weather, preferred a road journey to Begusarai. However, Priyanka’s tour to Beldaur in Khagaria was cancelled. Met Department sources say rains, caused due to Cyclone Montha, may stop from Sunday onwards.

Water-logged helipad

Earlier on Friday, only two helicopters could take off from Patna airport, while others remained grounded due to either water-logged helipads in different districts or poor visibility. BJP MP and Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari was lucky enough to take a helicopter ride to Khagaria, while Lalu’s estranged son Tej Pratap flew by helicopter to Simri Bakhtiyarpur to address a meeting for his party nominees.

Nitish takes the road

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is not in the best of health, took the road route after he too could not fly on Saturday. Though many of his meetings were cancelled, voters braved rain and used umbrellas to listen to him in Muzaffarpur.

“The BJP had to cancel nine flights, the RJD six, JD (U) three, Congress and the VIP two each in the last three days,” said an aviation source.