PM’s visit set to energise NDA campaign in Magadh

Gaya: PM Narendra Modi’s election meeting in Nawada on Sunday is important as it will give fillip to an election campaign that has so far been somewhat dull in the region.

Though the festival season is over now and things are back to normal and only 10 days are left for the polling, the campaign is yet to get a head start.

Political observers attribute the lacklustre nature of the campaign to several factors, including the Chhath fatigue and pre occupation of top brass of different parties in the areas where elections would be held in the first phase.

Election for all the 26 constituencies of Magadh division, spread over five districts, is scheduled for the second phase on Nov 11.

District BJP chief Prem Prakash aka Chintu said the PM is scheduled to hold elections meetings in Aurangabad also on a later date.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh will also be campaigning in Wazirganj constituency of Gaya district on Nov 5, said the BJP district chief.

As per reports, in Wazirganj, the sitting MLA has been facing public ire and dissident leader Kshitij Mohan Singh too has been giving trouble to the party’s official candidate. He has publicly accused party candidate and sitting MLA Virendra Singh of pocketing cut money from the execution of development and welfare-related schemes.

Kshitij is yet to withdraw his allegations and Rajnath, during his visit is likely to engage in some fire fighting exercise within the party. It will be interesting to see whether Rajnath succeeds in persuading Kshitij to support the party’s official candidate. Wazirganj is regarded as a Rajput stronghold.

According to Gaya district Congress chief Santosh Kushwaha, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge too would be visiting Gaya and adjoining districts. The details are being worked out and it is likely to materialise only after the end of campaign for the first-phase elections on Nov 4 evening.

CM Nitish Kumar, who during his visit to Gaya on the occasion of Pitrapaksh projected Manorama Devi as the JD(U) candidate from Belaganj, is yet to start his campaign in the Magadh division. According to JD(U) district president Dwarka Prasad, the CM will certainly campaign in Belaganj and several other constituencies of the region.