Amit Shah to meet saints, NDA leaders in Patna on Sept 18

Patna: BJP is set to accelerate its election preparations in the state this month. Two days after PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Gulabbag Shishabari on Sept 15 to inaugurate Purnia airport, possibly the Patna Metro Rail and to launch several road and rail projects, Union home minister Amit Shah will be in Patna on Sept 18.

He is scheduled to meet BJP leaders along with hundreds of Hindu saints and seers. Shah is also expected to return to Bihar on Sept 27 before the Election Commission announces the assembly poll schedule.Shah is likely to meet CM Nitish Kumar and other NDA leaders before finalising the seat-sharing arrangement for the Oct-Nov assembly polls. He will also hold separate meetings with party organisations. BJP has divided Bihar into five zones and Shah will meet leaders from two of them that day to discuss electoral strategy.

The election is being seen as a crucial test for BJP ahead of the West Bengal polls next year.According to sources, there are 45,000 mutts and temples in Bihar. “We have invited them all and 8,000 to 10,000 priests, seers and saints are expected to attend the meeting with Shah at Bapu Sabhagar in Patna,” sources said.Ahead of the PM and Shah’s visits, NDA leaders from Bihar showed unity during the vice-presidential election in Delhi on Tuesday.

HAM(S) patron and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief and Rajya Sabha member Upendra Kushwaha, and LJP(RV) MP Arun Bharti declared there was no problem in NDA seat sharing. Bharti, who had recently said that his party led by Union minister Chirag Paswan would prefer to contest between 137 seats as in 2020 and 43 seats as in 2015, made a U-turn on Tuesday.

He clarified that the earlier remarks reflected his personal views and not the party’s position.In Patna, senior JD(U) leader and parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said the NDA partners enjoyed “perfect mutual understanding”. Kushwaha added that NDA unity would be “more visible in Bihar polls than in the election for the VP post”.Shah had earlier chaired a meeting of the Bihar BJP core committee in Delhi on Sept 3 to review candidate selection, the manifesto and the election campaign.