Published 14:48 IST, September 8th 2020
Bihar polls: Tej Pratap Yadav kicks off election campaign with massive rally in Hasanpur
Kickstarting his poll campaign, RJD's Tej Pratap Yadav held a massive rally in Bihar's Hasanpur Vishan Sabha constituency, completely flouting COVID guidelines
Kickstarting his poll campaign, RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav held a massive rally in Bihar's Hasanpur Vishan Sabha constituency, completely flouting the guidelines of social distancing amid COVID-19 pandemic. Sources have said that Lalu Prasad's Tej Pratap is likely to contest from Hasanpur constituency amid speculations that his estranged wife Aishwarya Rai would contest from his current Mahua seat. In the video, Tej Pratap's followers can be seen behind his car, capturing his video and following his cavalcade while the RJD leader waved at them.
As per sources, the decision to change the seat was taken on August 28 when Tej Pratap met former Bihar CM and father Lalu Prasad Yadav in Ranchi. Meanwhile, 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.
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The assembly elections this year is significant for the RJD as it will contest the polls after it drew blank in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. It is also crucial because this is the first assembly elections in Bihar which will not witness the quintessential Lalu style of campaigning and his crowd-puller jibes. RJD also suffered a massive blow as HAM(S) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi left the Mahagathbandhan and rejoined NDA, while Lalu's long time friend and samdhi (Tej Pratap's father-in-law) Chandrika Rai along with 5 others quit the party.
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. BJP has already held its two-day state executive committee meeting on August 22-23 through a virtual medium which was addressed by its national president J P Nadda, general secretary (organization) B L Santhosh, general secretary Bhupender Yadav. The ruling JDU is in a tiff with Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) Chirag Paswan, who will soon announce if the party will contest with NDA.
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.
Updated 14:48 IST, September 8th 2020