Union home minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah will visit Bihar next month on a two-day trip during which he will address public meetings at Purnia and Kishanganj, a senior party leader said.
This will be Shah’s first visit to Bihar since his party was ousted from power in the state earlier this month.
Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai said on Monday that Shah will stay in Seemanchal area on September 23 and 24 September. “A big rally has been organized in Purnia on September 23. All senior party leaders of Bihar will be present in rallies. The next day, he will be in Kishanganj and address a rally there as well,” he said.
Though the exact details of his Kishanganj visit were not available, party leaders familiar with the matter said Shah would also be holding meetings with border officials on issues such as infiltration as the several districts of Seemanchal share borders with Bangladesh and has a heavy concentration of Muslim population.
Of the four Lok Sabha seats in the region, BJP had won only Araria in the 2019 parliamentary polls while its erstwhile alliance partner, chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD (U), had won Katihar and Purnia, the two traditional BJP seats. Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat was won by Congress.
Of the 24 assembly seats in the region, the current Grand Alliance, comprising, RJD, JD(U), Congress and the Left, has 16.
The JD(U) apprehends BJP might inflame communal passions. “BJP’s politics hinges on engineering communal tensions. This is getting reflected in the choice of the place for the trip of the Amit Shah,” JD(U) parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha said.
“But it will prove to be a failure. BJP’s plan to cash in on communalism in Bihar will fail, just like it did in West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections last year,” said the JD(U) leader.
Earlier this month, JD(U) had parted ways with BJP and formed a new government in Bihar in alliance with RJD, Congress, Left and other parties.
