NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address only five rallies in Jharkhand, where Assembly elections will be held in five phases from November 30.
The BJP is not prepared to “over expose” the PM. “As of now we have planned only one rally each in the five phases. If there is an assessment that more rallies are required, the party will look into the requests,” a senior BJP functionary said.
The bulk of the campaigning for the 81 Assembly seats will be done by party president Amit Shah, working president J P Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, sources said.
The BJP has used the Prime Minister sparingly in the Assembly elections after the Lok Sabha polls this year.
Modi had addressed nine rallies in Maharashtra and eight in Haryana. The poll outcomes in the two states indicated that the people voted more on local issues than on national issues, the main focus of the BJP’s campaign.
The BJP faces the triple challenge of anti-incumbency, a restive ally and a rebellion within in Jharkhand. Ground reports have suggested that CM Raghubar Das’s government has become unpopular with the voters.
To worsen matters, long-term ally, the All-Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), which claims to have a strong following among the other backward castes, particularly the Kurmis, decided to contest the elections alone.
The BJP has also announced the candidates for 75 Assembly seats while extending support to an independent, Vinod Singh, from Hussainabad Assembly seat.
In addition to this, the BJP is dealing with a rebellion after many sitting legislators were denied nomination. They have their thrown hats in the ring as independent candidates or by joining an opposition party, a situation similar to Maharashtra and Haryana just recently.
Senior state minister Saryu Roy, an MLA from Jamshedpur (West), hasn’t yet been nominated. A parallel is being drawn with senior party leader in Maharashtra, Eknath Khadse, who was axed at the instance of former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.