Lok Sabha Elections 2024: In a first, PM Modi to rally in Patna on May 12

Patna: In a historic first for Patna, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold a roadshow here on May 12. This will be the first time in the history of the state capital that a Prime Minister is holding a roadshow in any parliamentary election.

Modi, on a two-day visit to Bihar, will campaign for his former cabinet colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad, the former law minister, who is the BJP candidate from Patna Sahib. In 2019, Ravi Shankar defeated BJP rebel-turned-Congress nominee Shatrughan Sinha by over 3 lakh votes.

The Congress has fielded former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s son Anshul Avijit from Patna Sahib as the Mahagathbandhan candidate. Anshul, who is also the national spokesperson of the Congress, is making his debut from the constituency from where the BJP, barring two times, has been winning the seat since 1989.

Tejashwi jibe at Modi

Opposition RJD was quick to mock the saffron camp over Modi's visit.

“It is quite surprising that PM Modi has decided to hold a roadshow in Patna because Patna Sahib is one Lok Sabha constituency which is considered to be the safest seat for the BJP in Bihar,” said RJD leader and former Deputy CM of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav.

“The reason for Modi’s road show could be because the PM is rattled over the issue of unemployment and the price rise we have been raising in one election after another. The PM, on the other hand, is raking up non-issues like Mandir-Masjid, Muslims, mangalsutra, which have failed to cut much ice with the electorate,” added Tejashwi.

Modi will stay back in Patna on Sunday and leave for campaigning in three adjoining parliamentary constituencies on Monday. On May 13, the PM will campaign for Chirag Paswan, the LJP (R) candidate from Hajipur, followed by another rally at Muzaffarpur for BJP nominee Raj Bhushan Nishad.

He will also canvas for former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy at Chapra, now called Saran Lok Sabha constituency.

Rudy is pitted against RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s younger daughter Rohini Acharya, who shot to fame after donating one of her kidneys to her ailing father in Singapore. She is making her poll debut from a constituency from where Lalu became a Lok Sabha member for the first time in 1977 at the age of 28.