NDA allies gear up for March 3 rally

PATNA: With just nine days to go for the NDA’s ‘Sankalp Rally’ in Patna, the BJP along with its two allies JD(U) and LJP, is putting together all collective social and political resources to counter the February 3 ‘Jan Aakansha rally’ by the Congress president Rahul Gandhi, where its Grand Alliance partner RJD was also present.

“PM Narendra Modi may interact with any of the booth-level state BJP workers in Bihar on his NaMo app on February 28, as part of the state unit’s drive to make the NDA’s proposed ‘Sankalp Rally’ here at Gandhi Maidan on March 3 a huge success,” state BJP president Nityanand Rai said on Thursday.

Rai also discussed the five-day programme meant to invigorate the party’s rank and file and general supporters, besides bringing them to the rally venue. State BJP has also decided to mobilise booth-level workers in the state as party’s build up from February 24 to March 3, for the proposed rally.

PM Modi, along with CM Nitish Kumar and LJP national chief Ram Vilas Paswan, are scheduled to address the rally. It will be the PM’s second visit to the state in a fortnight, as he has already addressed one at Barauni (Begusarai district) on February 17, where he laid the foundation stones for projects worth Rs 33,000 crore, including a metro rail project for Patna that would entail an expenditure of Rs 13,000 crore in the first phase.

Rai said that the booth-level workers would take a resolution expressing their faith in nationalism and development on February 26. The state has 62,000 polling booths, while the BJP has been claiming that it has already formed booth level committees covering around 40,000 of the booths.

However, to begin with, the booth-level BJP workers would listen to the PM Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme at their respective booths on February 24.