Bihar Polls: Congress begins 'Bihar Kranti' campaign to counter Nitish's 'Nischay Samwaad'

Launching its campaign for Bihar elections on Monday, the Congress organised a virtual meeting called ''Bihar Kranti Virtual
Mahasammelan'' in the two districts of East Champaran and West Champaran. Congress which is the part of the opposition Grand Alliance in the state headed by the RJD, said that Bihar is all set for a change of government as people are fed up with the NDA rule. Congress national general secretary and MP Avinash Pandey, who is also Bihar Congress Screening Committee
chairman, addressed the rally attacking the Nitish Kumar government and the BJP claiming that they have turned a deaf ear to
the problems being faced by people especially towards rising crime graph in the state.

Bihar Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha said that people had voted for Grand Alliance five years ago but Nitish Kumar switched sides by ditching the mandate. People have been deceived by the NDA government, he said asserting that "we sounded a bugle for change with the launch of Bihar Kranti Virtual Mahasammelan". Bihar Congress Campaign committee chairman Akhilesh Prasad Singh, party spokesman Acharya Pramod Krishnan, Tariq Anwar, All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev, actor- politician Raj Babbar and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.

READ | Bihar polls: Tej Pratap Yadav kicks off election campaign with massive rally in Hasanpur

Similar digital meetings will be held assembly constituency-wise in every district in two phases, Avinash Pandey said while adding that after holding 100 such virtual meetings in the state, the party will be holding a state-level conference through virtual mode which will be addressed by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

READ | Bihar polls: Tej Pratap Yadav kicks off election campaign with massive rally in Hasanpur

The party has also termed Nitish's Nischay Samwad as a flop by posting a screenshot of the JDU's Youtube page which shows the number of dislikes on the party's video conference. 

RJD rally

Kickstarting his poll campaign, RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav held a rally in Bihar's Hasanpur Vishan Sabha constituency, completely flouting the guidelines of social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Mahagathbandhan's probable CM face & RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has continued his attack on Nitish Kumar and termed his rally as 'super flop.' He has dared Nitish to answer questions related to unemployment and crime in Bihar. RJD has faced a massive blow after HAM's Jitan Ram Manjhi left Mahagathbandhan and Lalu's long time friend and samdhi (Tej Pratap's father-in-law) Chandrika Rai along with 5 others quit the party. Sources have said that RJD is in talks with the left parties to stitch an alliance. 

READ | Tej Pratap meets Lalu; calls Raghuvansh Prasad his 'chacha' after father's scolding

Nitish's Nischay Samwad

Sounding the poll bugle, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched his re-election campaign with a 'Nischay Samwaad' rally on Monday. In a marathon three hour speech, Nitish Kumar attacked the Lalu family and chose to end his speech by mentioning deceased actor Sushant Singh Rajput. He also spoke in length on the state's COVID-19 preparations, his government's social schemes. In his 'Nischay Samwaad', Kumar connected with 10 lakh people virtually on JDUlive.com and other social media portals. 

READ | Bihar polls: Sushant Rajput finds a mention in CM Nitish's rally, mourns actor's death

Bihar elections 2020

Amid rising COVID-19 cases, Bihar is all set to go to polls for a 243-member assembly seat in October-November. The Election Commission has issued directives to conduct election amid COVID, however, the dates are yet to be announced. In the 2015 assembly polls, CM Nitish Kumar's JDU, then a part of the Mahagathbandhan won 71 seats, Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD won 80 seats, and Congress won 27 seats. The BJP which fought the elections alone after Kumar in 2013 broke the 17-year-old alliance won a mere 53 seats out of 157 contested. However, the saffron party came back to power when Kumar ditched the Mahagathbandhan and once again stitched an alliance with the BJP.

READ | Ex-JDU chief Sharad Yadav in talks with party netas before Bihar polls; may rejoin NDA