PATNA: A day after the conclusion of campaign for the last phase of assembly elections in the state, the roar of helicopters finally came to an end on Friday. The star campaigners of political parties, too, started returning from the state.
Officials who handle the choppers and private aircraft of senior political leaders at Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport here have also heaved a sigh of relief as the mounting pressure for parking and other formalities for clearance of flying machines has also ended.
Anshu Aman, whose company provides choppers to netas and offers technical support to them, said most helicopters have flown back to Delhi and other places carrying senior leaders of different parties as electioneering has ended in the state.
“Only two choppers hired by the BJP and one each by the Congress and Election Commission are still parked at Patna airport,” Aman said.
According to the AAI-Patna, at least 21 to 23 choppers have flown per day from the airport on an average during the second last two phases of Bihar polls, carrying senior netas from one constituency to another. Besides, chartered flights of some national leaders of BJP and Congress were also given space at the airport.
PM Narendra Modi, CM Nitish Kumar, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, BJP national president J P Nadda, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and VIP chief Mukesh Sahni, among others, used choppers and private aircraft during electioneering in the state.
BJP spokesman Prem Ranjan Patel said different party leaders held at least 16 rallies per day in the state since the beginning of the poll campaign. “Around 350 rallies and meetings of BJP have been held in the state in the last 20 days. The PM has alone addressed 12 election rallies. Nadda, Manoj Tiwari, Rajnath Singh and Dharmendra Pradhan have also held rallies in the state,” he added.
“The CM has alone addressed 100 election rallies in the state, including six with PM Modi,” JD(U) spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad said.
Congress state general secretary Sanjeev Singh said the party leaders used two choppers to cover 83 rallies in the state. “In the last phase, several senior Congress leaders held rallies in the state, including Rahul Gandhi, Shatrughan Sinha, Imran Pratapgarhi, Raj Babbar, Pramod Tiwari and Ajay Kapoor,” he said.
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari said Tejashwi has alone addressed 257 rallies in the state for the Grand Alliance candidates.