Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a function in Patna
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Patna this morning to power up his party's campaign for the Bihar Assembly elections due by October, his BJP's chief rival, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, threw him a challenge in comments loaded with sarcasm.
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"We're grateful that after 14 months Modiji finds time to visit Bihar. As we get ready to hear more promises what about his old ones?" Nitish Kumar said, reminding PM Modi, "You promised Bihar special status, the people are still waiting."
At a function to launch multiple projects and two trains the two leaders shared stage and made polite references to each other. "I share Nitish Kumar's pain, Bihar suffered because of politics," said PM Modi, referring to the previous Congress-led UPA regime at the Centre.
Nitish Kumar, speaking before the Prime Minister, welcomed him to the state. He, however, sought to underscore the state government's contribution to all the projects PM Modi inaugurated today.
There is much speculation that PM Modi could, at a mega rally in Muzzafarnagar in north Bihar today, announce a special economic package, which has been Mr Kumar's most passionate demand.
An announcement by the PM today would help the BJP neatly pluck the credit away from the man it hopes to unseat this year, Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal United.
PM Modi had promised a special package for Bihar while campaigning for the national election last year. The BJP and allies had won 32 of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats.
In Bihar, the BJP takes on the combined might of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United and Lalu Yadav's RJD in what is billed as the most crucial election since last year's Lok Sabha polls. The Congress and its allies have also joined hands with Nitish and Lalu.
The anti-BJP coalition is projecting Nitish Kumar as its chief ministerial candidate. The BJP has not announced one - the face of its campaign is PM Modi in a tested strategy that has paid dividend in other state elections.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which rules in Delhi, today declared that it too is headed to Bihar to campaign against the BJP and Prime Minister Modi. Arvind Kejriwal's AAP accuses the Modi government at the Centre of attempting to scuttle governance in Delhi.
The JDU and the BJP had fought the last assembly elections in 2000 as allies; they had been partners since 1996. But in 2013, Nitish Kumar called off the alliance when it became clear that the BJP would project Mr Modi for Prime Minister. Mr Kumar bore the brunt of the bitter break-up months before the national election. His party could win only two Lok Sabha seats. Lalu Yadav's RJD too was wiped out and the two Bihar stalwarts, rivals for decades joined hands to consolidate the anti-BJP vote.
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