File photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told his party the BJP that he will make himself available for as much time as it needs to campaign for the crucial Bihar elections to be held in five phases over the next month, sources have said.
The party is expected to take him up on the offer; sources said the PM's Bihar programme is being rescheduled to include about seven to eight rallies before every phase of polling. PM Modi has allotted the party two days before each phase and will address a blitz of rallies on those days.
So, this week on Thursday and Friday, the PM is expected to address public meetings in seven places and will then camp in Patna on Friday to discuss the Bihar campaign with state leaders. 49 of Bihar's 243 constituencies will vote in the first phase on October 12, next Monday.
The Prime Minister's five rallies in the state so far have drawn massive crowds.
In a tested strategy that has worked well for the party in other state elections held after the national election that it won last year, the BJP and its three regional partners have decided not to project a candidate for Chief Minister and instead seek votes for the Prime Minister and his development agenda in Bihar.
The Prime Minister also heads the list of the BJP's star campaigners in a state that it must win, especially after a disastrous outing six months ago in Delhi, where it was crushed by the Aam Aadmi Party of Arvind Kejriwal. Then, the BJP had deviated from script and projected former top cop Kiran Bedi as presumptive Chief Minister.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is seeking a third term and is leading an anti-BJP coalition, has taunted the rival party for seeking votes in the name of the PM. "The BJP doesn't have a leader. Will Prime Minister Modi become the Chief Minister?" he asked at a rally over the weekend.