As campaign heats up, NDA, Oppn trade barbs

Campaigning for the high-stakes assembly elections in Bihar kicked into high gear on Wednesday as both the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition Grand Alliance deployed top leaders to address rallies crisscrossing the state, hoping to convince voters before the polls next month.

- Subhash Pathak and Bishnu K Jha

The NDA campaign was fronted by Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, two other Union ministers and chief ministers of three states. Shah, who addressed three rallies, underlined that Nitish Kumar would remain chief minister if the NDA came back to power, called the Opposition alliance "thug bandhan" and alleged that Rahul Gandhi wanted to shield infiltrators by opposing the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

"The Bihar polls are an election to prevent the return of 'jungle raj' to the state. The NDA in the state is like 'paanch paandav' - a strong alliance of five parties. The INDIA bloc will be routed and we will form the government after registering a historic victory this time," Shah said in Darbhanga.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the Opposition's chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav addressed two joint rallies, attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and underlining the coalition's promise of government jobs and cash doles. He also hit out at Shah, saying that the SIR was an infringement on the fundamental rights of marginalised communities.

"Tell him at a rally, 'Mr. Prime Minister, we'll vote for you if you dance,' and he'll break into the act without a second thought...Forget the myth that Nitish Kumar runs this stateit's the BJP pulling strings from afar, with zero regard for Bihar's people," Gandhi said at Darbhanga.

In the two-phase elections on November 6 and 11, the Opposition is hoping to deny Nitish Kumar a fifth consecutive term, but has been besieged by internal dissension over seat-sharing.