With the second phase of Lok Sabha polls just six days away, leaders of political parties in the state are in no mood to leave anything to chance. On Friday, NDA, in its show of strength and unity, held three election rallies in Katihar, Purnia and Kishanganj. All the three constituencies go to polls on April 18.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi and Ram Vilas Paswan made fervent appeals to people to support NDA for a strong and stable government at the centre.

The CM Nitish Kumar praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that India has progressed by leaps and bounds under PM Modi’s tenure. He also praised the development work carried out by the state and the centre.

“The age of lantern is gone with electricity replacing it in entire Bihar,” Kumar said in a jibe at RJD. He assured that every house would have drinking water facility by 2020. He also praised the centre for giving financial assistance to the state.

Kumar mentioned central government schemes such as Ujjwala Yojana, Ayushman Bharat and praised the central government for releasing Rs 50,000 crore for the construction of roads across the state, which had brought perceptible change everywhere.

Union minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan said, “We are committed to the welfare of the poor and this will go on. The central government is very sensitive towards poor people and are doing a lot for them.”

Senior BJP leader and Bihar’s deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi taking a dig at Lalu Prasad and his family. “Our schemes are meant for the poor people and not for a particular family. Laluji is doing family centric politics while ours is nation centric politics.”

The trio of leaders addressed three election meetings at Katihar, Purnia and Kishanganj where JD-U has fielded its candidates. On behalf of the opposition, Congress has fielded its candidates on all the three seats.

From Katihar, JD-U’s Dulal Chandra Goswami is contesting against Congress nominee Tariq Anwar. In Purnia, sitting JD-U MP Santosh Kumar is pitted against Congress’s Uday Singh. In Kishanganj the fight has turned triangular with JD-U nominee Mahmood Asraf facing off against Congress nominee Dr Md Javed and AIMIM candidate Akhtarul Iman.

First Published: Apr 13, 2019 09:08 IST