The two-day BJP meet is likely to be attended by over 750 leaders from across the country.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is not comfortable with the coming BJP meeting in the state, where the party's chief strategist Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda will fly in over the weekend for an interaction with key party leaders from across India. Known to stay away from the BJP these days, Mr Kumar is giving this meeting a miss as well. This time the cause is Covid – he tested positive on Tuesday.
The two-day meeting of all BJP cells is likely to be attended by over 750 leaders from all over the country.
While Mr Kumar has been incommunicado, disquiet about the meeting is evident among the leaders of his Janata Dal United in Patna.
Nitish Kumar's supporters express annoyance about the BJP's timing. Bihar is passing through one of the worst droughts in many years. As the city gets plastered with banners and hoardings welcoming the visitors, they question the need for holding this meeting in the state at this point.
Bihar, they point out, is not having an election in the near future and the state is not ruled by any opposition party -- two main criteria for deciding the venue of such meetings.
Party leaders are also aghast that the BJP is planning a night-stay by its leaders in 200 assembly constituencies -- leaving aside the 43 seats won by JD(U). Mr Kumar would have preferred the BJP leaders to camp out in just the 121 constituencies they got under the seat sharing agreement during the assembly elections, party sources indicated.
Vijendra Prasad Yadav, the state's energy minister, said the BJP is free to go ahead with its programme and there's no bar on such functions.
State BJP chief Sanjay Jaisawal said in 200 seats, the leaders are going to talk about achievements of the Central as well as state government's work.
Mr Jaiswal, however, got upset when asked about such an extravaganza during a massive shortfall in rains.
Both BJP and Janata Dal leaders admit in private that now, there is a huge trust deficit in the state's ruling NDA and this has created more uneasiness about such events.
Leaders of the JD(U) say it is obvious that the BJP plan has a sense of purpose and urgency and it is "a clear signal for us to fasten the seat belts and chart our own course".
Nitish Kumar, they say, is aware that the top BJP leadership is working overtime to draw his core votebank of women, non-Yadav backwards classes. This was not the case earlier as both parties used to follow coalition dharma and avoid wooing each other's core vote bank.