Bihar Elections: BJP is all set to cash on PM’s successful visit to US with a massive rally at Banka

PM Modi to address election rally in Banka on October 2

BJP is all set to cash on Narendra Modi’s Rockstar tour of the US with a rally in Banka on 2 October, which also happens to be Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. Riding on the back of a very successful tour, the entire party high command, including the Bihar unit, is being galvanized to ensure the rally’s success, the first in a series of rallies planned, after the PM returns from the US. The importance of Bihar elections to BJP can be seen by the fact that the PM took out time from his very busy schedule in the US to meet the NRI community from Bihar, in an effort to woo that segment’s goodwill back home. The PM will be going all out highlighting the gains for India, especially those aspects that will touch rural India – Microsoft’s commitment for providing low cost broadband technology to 5 lakh villages and Google’s commitment to offer free Wi-Fi access to 500 railway stations in India. Besides these, he will also be speaking on how ‘Make in India’ is going to create jobs here and how his tour had managed to catalyze further FDI into India. In the US, he spoke about how India had received 40% higher FDI in the last one year and he is sure to take this message to the people of Bihar on how this would help in creating more jobs. To ensure rally success at Banka, Amit Shah will be arriving there shortly, along with Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, to join the party’s Election-in-Charge, Ananth Kumar. The first phase of elections is on 12 October and will cover districts of Munger, Bhagalpur, Nawada and Samastipur.

EC takes note of Lalu Prasad’s speech about electoral fight between forward and backward castes

With opposition parties crying foul on Lalu Prasad’s rally speech at Raghopur, where he publicly extolled his community the Yadavs and OBCs, to join hands with the Grand Alliance in fighting the forward castes, the Election Commissioner has been forced to take note of Lalu’s speech. While Lalu Prasad’s poll strategy has always been around caste politics, it will be interesting to see how the EC reacts to this latest development.

JD(U) lashes out at BJP’s claims of better performance when it was in alliance with JD(U)

KC Tyagi of JD(U) lashed out at the BJP claiming that the NDA was distorting facts to mislead the people. Countering claims made public in a report by Public Policy Research Centre, a BJP sponsored think tank, Tyagi said that the Economic Survey Report for 2013-14 stated that Bihar was the best performing amongst states on GSDP. KC Tyagi further raised fears around Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on reservation and re-iterated that the BJP would review reservations, if it came to power. Party spokesperson Sanjay Singh also hit out at the BJP saying that the state had improved its power supply significantly from 700 MW in 2005 to 3,500 MW this year, and said that that the supply would improve further. On electrification of villages, he echoed similar improvement in performance and claimed that all 39,000 villages would be electrified within a year. Taking a shot at the PM, Dr Ajay Alok, JD(U) asked why the PM was seeking feedback on his government’s performance from NRIs when he did not have the guts to take feedback from people back home. Meanwhile, trouble was brewing in the JD(U) camp with party members gathering at a mahapanchayat held at village Narsanda, which falls under the Harnaut assembly constituency of Nalanda district, a Nitish Kumar stronghold. Party members from over 100 villages in the area had gathered to protest re-nomination of JD(U) MLA Hari Narayan Singh. The members claimed that they had protested against his nomination in 2010 as well and Nitish Kumar had assured that he would not be re-nominated. However, with his re-nomination this time, the members threatened to vote against him and in support of his rival, unless his nomination was cancelled. In another setback to JD(U), Rajiv Ranjan, the party’s MLA from Islampur, has jumped ship and joined BJP. He hails from Nalanda district, which is Nitish Kumar’s home ground. What is worrying the party is that 7 other MLAs of the party who have also rebelled are likely to follow Ranjan into the BJP camp.

Politician in focus: Ram Kirpal Yadav, BJP (Born: 12 October, 1957)

Ram Kirpal Yadav is the sitting MP from Patliputra in the 16th Lok Sabha. He was born in Goriatoli in Patna district in the house of late Kishori Prasad. After completing his B.A. he went onto study Law. In 1985-86 he served as the Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation of Patna. Later in 1992-93 he was elected as Member to the Bihar Legislative Council. He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in the bye-election held in 1993 in the 10th Lok Sabha. He was re-elected in the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996. He was once again elected in 2004 to the 14th Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket, after he defeated Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharati. This is his 4th term as MP to the Lok Sabha. He has served on various Committees and is presently holding the portfolio of Union Minster of State, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Constituency in focus: Katihar

Katihar became a district when it was carved out of Purnia in 1973. Katihar town is the district headquarters and is part of Purnia Division. Katihar district has 7 Assembly constituencies, 3 Sub-Divisions, and 16 Blocks. The district is spread over 3,056 sq kms and as per Census 2011, the total population is 30,71,029, of which males are 16,00,430 and females 14,70,599. The literacy rate is 53.56%. The main language spoken is Angika.

2010 Assembly Election Results

• Winner in 2010 Assembly Poll: Tar Kishore Prasad, BJP • Margin of win: 20,607 votes; 16.45% of total valid votes • Runner-up: Dr Ram Prakash Mahto, RJD • Male voters: 69,492; Female voters: 55,696 ; Total: 125,340 • Polling %: 60.17 • Male Candidates who contested: 10; Female Candidates: 0 • Polling stations: 229 Related Information: Bihar Elections 2015 Bihar Election Updates Bihar Election Dates Candidate List for Bihar Assembly Elections 2015 List of Assembly Constituencies of Bihar Bihar Election Results Who will be the next CM of Bihar? Political Parties of Bihar List of Chief Ministers (CM) of Bihar Government and Politics of Bihar List of Governors of Bihar Bihar Map