Patna: 'Nitish for PM' slogans rent the air at a rally organised on Wednesday in Patna by the Bihar chief minister's Janata Dal (United) which was seen as its show of strength ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The 'ati pichhda sammelan' (congregation of extremely backward classes) was organised by the party to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of former CM Karpoori Thakur, an OBC stalwart and Kumar's mentor, who was on Tuesday chosen for the highest civilian award of the country, the Bharat Ratna.
Kumar, who took over as the party president last month, has been insisting that despite being a key figure in the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc he had 'no personal ambitions'.
"I would urge my friends in the media to keep their reporting focused on the function in the memory of Karpoori Thakur and not speculate much about me. I just enjoy doing my job," Kumar, the longest-serving CM of the state, concluded his 30-minute address at the rally with this remark.
The JD(U) boss was visibly pleased to see 'the massive crowd, which seems no less than two lakh people', that had turned up at the veterinary college ground in the city.
The city teemed with JD(U) workers from across the state who had been pouring in for the past couple of days, many of them putting up at tents in Miller High School ground which is a couple of kilometers from the venue of the rally.
The BJP, Kumar's former ally, which had wanted the Miller High School ground for itself, staged a demonstration in front of its own office at Beer Chand Patel Marg where party leaders climbed atop a truck, designed like a stage, decked with flowers and a huge portrait of Thakur, in its bid to underscore that it was PM Narendra Modi who bestowed the highest civilian honour on the late leader and, hence, was 'the true champion of EBCs'.
The JD(U) seemed unfazed, with its supporters having virtually covered the entire city with posters of the 'ati pichhda sammelan' where Kumar asked party workers to 'always live in peace, without fighting in the name of Hindus and Muslims' and reminded them that 'at the ancestral house of Karpoori Thakur, prayers are offered by people from all faiths'.
The crowd had filled up the ground much before noon, despite biting cold and icy winds made worse by an overcast sky which continued till Kumar finished his speech around 3 pm.
Besides frequent roars of 'desh ka neta kaisa ho Nitish Kumar jaisa ho' from the crowds, the occasion was marked by more than one leader expressing the wish that the party supremo rise to the top.
Shravan Kumar, the minister for rural development who hails from Kumar's native district of Nalanda, said in his speech that he wanted the chief minister to 'hoist the tricolour at the Red Fort in Delhi'.
Those present at the rally included Ram Nath Thakur, the late leader's son and a JD(U) national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP, who seemed visibly moved by his party colleagues' adoration for his father and said he desired the 'Dilli ki gaddi (the seat of power at Delhi)' for the JD(U) president.
Madan Sahni, who holds the social welfare portfolio in the state government, seemed carried away by the excitement and demanded a 'Nobel prize for our leader' in recognition of Kumar's efforts towards the upliftment of the weaker sections and empowerment of women.
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