Social Justice to Be Focus of BJP's Bihar Polls Campaign

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is placing social justice at the core of its election campaign in Bihar, with a focus on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Nitish Kumar as champions of the poor and socially marginalized, people familiar with the strategy said.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran [e-mail]

NEW DELHI:

The BJP is keen to go to the polls, expected in October-November, as part of a strong coalition to tap into the "collective vote bank" of allies in the state, where it is in power with chief minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) or JD(U). Other NDA constituents are Union minister Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awami Morcha (Secular), and Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP).

The NDA constituents will jointly contest elections that are likely to be held later this year.

In the 2020 elections, the NDA won 125 seats in the 243-member assembly and formed the government with Kumar as the CM. The BJP won 74 of the 110 seats it contested in alliance with the JD(U), which could only manage 43 of the 115 seats it contested. The Opposition Mahagathbandhan, comprising the RJD, Congress and Left parties, won 110 seats.

According to BJP and JD(U) functionaries, unlike the other states where the campaign is pivoted on the development agenda and Hindutva, the NDA's election pitch in Bihar will be hoisted on planks of development and social justice, given the centrality of caste in the state's electoral politics.