PATNA: There’s never a dull moment in poll-bound Bihar. For the political parties, it’s not just about wooing the voters or lashing out at opponents. To show their strength, the bigwigs have now joined the ‘air war’.
The BJP and Grand Alliance leaders are rally-hopping with helicopters to cut down on time, and also to impress rural voters. With 15 flying machines in service, the figure is expected to go up to 25 soon.
The NDA has taken the lead by using nine copters, while the Grand Alliance of Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar have hired five from private firms. The BJP is using six copters and three others have been given to its allies—LJP, RLSP and HAM(S). The JD(U) and RJD are using two helicopters each, whereas the Congress has only one helicopter. Even leaders from Pappu Yadav’s Jan Adhikar Party have a helicopter for campaigning.
Most of the aircraft have been hired from aviation companies based in Mumbai and New Delhi. The average cost of hiring a multi-engine copter is Rs 2 lakh a flying hour.
Top netas and star campaigners fly four to five hours. “The political parties are asking votes in the name of poor, but are spending money lavishly. All these are being done to address meetings where hardly three to four hundred people gather to hear them,” said Kamlesh Sharma, a senior CPI(ML) leader.
He, however, said the top leaders often use the copters to attract more voters. “It helps them to attract people in rural areas who want to see chopper,” he added.
The cost of hiring choppers goes up to crores of rupees per month. “In the age of fast communication, you can’t think of an election campaign without helicopter because politicians are hard-pressed for time,” said Sanjay Mayukh, BJP’s state vice-president. Left parties have decided not to use choppers for campaigns.