File Photo: BJP President Amit Shah
BJP party president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh will kickstart the BJP's campaign for the Bihar assembly elections, scheduled for later this year, by addressing a rally of party workers in Patna later today.
The timing coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit leader and icon - Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.
According to party estimates, the BJP leaders are expected to address a gathering of about 1.5 lakh workers from across the state.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a leader of BJP's rival in Bihar the Janata Dal (United), says that BJP is only seeking to leverage the iconic Dalit leader's birth anniversary for political gains. "These are fake people who are trying to claim Dr Ambedkar's legacy. What do these people have to do with his legacy?" asked Mr Kumar at a function to mark Dr Ambedkar's birth anniversary on Monday.
The Chief Minister said that he asked his officials to advance the function by a day so that the BJP did not accuse him of taking the spotlight away from their event
In the state assembly elections, scheduled for November this year, the BJP is expected to come up against a single, merged entity that will emerge from Mr Kumar and Lalu Yadav's parties in Bihar.
The two stalwart politicians hope the merger will consolidate the state's Dalit , backward caste and Muslim vote bank in their favour.
Both the BJP and the Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad combine, are vying for the Dalit vote which constitutes about 15 per cent of the state's population. This vote bank is perhaps more important for the BJP, that has traditionally been supported by Bihar's upper caste voters.
Till two years ago, the BJP was in an alliance with Nitish Kumar in Bihar which consolidated BJP's upper caste votes with that of Nitish Kumar's base among the Dalit and the Mahadalit voters. That 17-year-old alliance is no more.
In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP and its allies - Ram Vilas Paswan and Upendra Kushwaha, one a Dalit leader and other from a backward caste - routed out both Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar who were contesting separately from each other.
The assembly election is seen as the first big test for the BJP after it abysmal Delhi defeat.