With Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the lead, the BJP's brigade of 40 star campaigners for the Bihar battle has political heavyweights, party mentors and a glamour quotient. The list submitted to the election commission includes BJP veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, both of whom are members of the Marg Darshak Mandal. Actor turned politician Shatrughan Sinha also figures in the list despite his persistent controversial remarks and tweets which have often left the party red-faced. Apart from him, another Bollywood star Hema Malini who is now a BJP MP will also campaign in the state. Former cricketer Navjot Singh Siddhu's name also figures in the list.
Besides senior union ministers– Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari–and BJP chief Amit Shah, human resource development minister Smriti Irani, a television star turned politician, will also hold rallies in the state. Only two chief ministers– Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raghubar Das– will be campaigning in Bihar, where the first phase of elections will be held on October 12. The entire gamut of party's union ministers and senior leaders from Bihar as well as those who have been handling the state's affairs are among the star campaigners.
Sinha, a BJP MP, has openly expressed his views against the party decision to put up a collective leadership instead of projecting a face ahead of the elections. The BJP wanted to leave the leadership open-ended to avoid disappointing any section, sources said. However, it appears that the strategy to create a confusion on who could be the chief minister if NDA won, is now weakening as none of the senior leaders who appeared to be in the race, are fighting the election.
PM to hold 20 rallies
According to sources, Narendra Modi is likely to hold around 20 rallies in the state in the run up to the election, in which the BJP-led NDA has not projected any chief ministerial candidate. In the absence of a face in the state, it is turning out to be battle of Modi versus Nitish Kumar, who is the chief ministerial candidate of the Mahagatbandhan of JD-U and RJD.
