Amit Shah changes Bihar rally plan, so does Tejashwi

Former BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has advanced his Bihar rally planned for June 9. Now, he will address the party workers in the State through video conferencing on June 7, Sunday. The RJD, which had planned ‘Garib Adhikar Diwas’ to counter BJP’s ‘virtual rally’ on June 9, too, has advanced it to June 7.

“We have also advanced our programme and will now counter BJP’s ‘virtual rally’ on Sunday by organising ‘Garib Adhikar Diwas’ on June 7. We will observe the day to show solidarity with the poor migrants and farmers. Our stir is to protest the ruling BJP, which, instead of showing sympathy with the poor and migrant workers, is thinking about elections in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis,” said Leader of the Opposition, Tejashwi Yadav.

Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal confirmed that Shah’s virtual rally will now be held on June 7. “Due to some technical reasons, it has been advanced from June 9 to June 7,” said Jaiswal, who is a BJP Lok Sabha MP from West Champaran in Bihar. “The Union Home Minister will address lakhs of party workers in the State through video-conferencing,” the Bihar BJP chief added.

This will be for the first time in the history of an Indian election campaign where a digital mode of electioneering will kick-start for the Assembly polls.

Bihar, which will be the first State to have polls post-COVID-19 crisis, is slated to have Assembly elections for 243 seats in October-November this year.

Senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Sushil Modi, had last month dropped ample hint that instead of the conventional method, the BJP could go for a digital mode of campaigning.

In Bihar, the JD (U) and the BJP are ruling alliance partners since 2017. Shah has already announced that the Assembly polls in the State will be contested under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.