Modi enters Bihar election campaign with EBC outreach

Says NDA will return to power under Nitish Kumar's stewardship

- ADITI PHADNIS

Reminding Mithilanchal and North Bihar of the horrors of “jungle raj” during the rule of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Congress combine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that was the most inclusive and most dedicated to “sushashan” (good governance).

Launching his formal election campaign ahead of the Assembly polls in Bihar, he promised more industrial and policy initiatives in the state if the NDA returned to power.

Addressing a big gathering in Doodhpura, Samastipur — about which Modi himself quipped, that though “I have spent my life in Gujarat, I would not have been able to get such a large crowd for a public meeting there so soon after Deepawali” — Modi launched a strong appeal to the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), assuring them that the NDA alone would be able to secure their interests. He paid glowing tributes to Karpoori Thakur, former chief minister of Bihar, after visiting his birthplace just outside the town, renamed Karpoorigram, and reminded the crowd that it was the NDA that bestowed the Bharat Ratna on the “jana nayak” (leader of the masses).