NDA partners rally behind chief minister Nitish Kumar

Patna: The state chiefs of NDA partners on Sunday unanimously endorsed CM Nitish Kumar as their central campaign face for the forthcoming assembly elections, stressing that the women’s empowerment schemes introduced by him over the last two decades would secure the alliance a resounding victory.The meeting of state-level chiefs was held at the JD(U) headquarters after the completion of the fourth phase of assembly constituency-level conferences of NDA workers. These conferences, which began on Aug 23, were aimed at countering the mass outreach of the opposition Grand Alliance’s Voter Adhikar Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, supported by CPI(ML), CPI, CPI-M and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).Those addressing the media included Dilip Kumar Jaiswal of the BJP, Umesh Singh Kushwaha of the JD(U), Raju Tiwari of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Chirag Paswan, Anil Kumar of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Madan Choudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) led by Upendra Kushwaha.“The participation of women in the meetings and conferences of NDA partners, including the constituency-level gatherings, has been overwhelming. This is due to the schemes announced by CM Nitish Kumar for the empowerment of women,” said BJP state president Dilip Kumar Jaiswal, leading the argument.He highlighted the recent steps taken by the NDA govt, such as raising the widow pension from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100 per month, providing Rs 10,000 to women from each family to start a business with further assistance of up to Rs 2 lakh on success, and offering 125 units of free electricity for households. He also cited the creation of around 11 lakh self-help groups since 2006, which now include 1.40 crore women members known as Jeevika Didis.“There is visible excitement and energy among women who come to our meetings. It is because of the CM’s work for women’s empowerment,” Jaiswal said.“In the past, women’s participation in public meetings used to be minimal, around 50 or so. Today, if 10,000 people attend, nearly half are women,” he added.