PATNA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be back in Bihar on June 20, the fourth time this year and his seventh visit to the state after he took oath for the third term in June 2024. This time around, Modi will visit Siwan, considered a stronghold of main opposition RJD, where he is scheduled to address a ‘mega political rally.’
A team of senior BJP leaders on Monday visited Siwan to take stock of preparations for the Modi rally.
During the RJD regime, then RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin was said to call the shots in Siwan; merely his name spelt terror across Bihar, observers say. The don-turned-politician’s family is considered close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad to this day.
On June 30, PM Modi had addressed a rally at Bikramganj in Rohtas district, a part of Shahabad region where NDA performed poorly both in the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2020 assembly elections. Earlier, he visited Bhagalpur and Madhubani.
From an administrative point of view, entire state has been divided into nine major regions. Shahabad region comprises Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas and Kaimur districts where Opposition’s Grand Alliance won 15 out of 22 seats in 2020 assembly polls.
In Magadh region, which comprises Gaya Ji, Aurangabad, Nawada and Jehanabad, the opposition bloc secured win on 16 out of 25 seats.
A senior BJP leader said the PM’s rally has been finalised in areas where the Opposition bloc performed better than the NDA in previous assembly elections. PM will announce several development projects for the region ahead of polls to woo voters.
For NDA Shahabad region and adjoining Magadh region may prove to be a challenging battleground as it could win only 18 out of 49 seats in the two regions in the last election.
Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi besides former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha have been roped in to improve NDA’s performance in Shahabad and Magadh regions.
Kushwaha told the press on Monday that the NDA could pull a spectacular performance in Shahabad and Magadh regions if all its constituents – BJP, JD(U), LJP(RV), HAM and RLM – contest the election in complete coordination. “A message should go across all sections of the society that NDA is fully united and contesting elections without any misgiving to improve its seat tally in both regions,” he said.
Oppn tally in 2020 assembly
Shahabad: 15 of 22 seats
Magadh: 16 of 25 seats
Patna: 10 out of 21 seats
Kosi: 6 out of 11 seats
Mithilanchal: 18 of 47 seats
Tirhut: 11 of 42 seats
Saran, which includes Siwan: 15 out of 24 seats