Bihar polls: Nitish Kumar plans to visit every district of the state

Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), leader Nitish Kumar plans to visit every district of the state at least once before the Assembly elections in September 2020.

Kumar plans to travel along with senior state government officials and take stock of the various development projects by meeting beneficiaries of the programmes during the statewide campaign, which is expected to start in December.

“We are in the process of planning a campaign or yatra of chief minister Nitish Kumar that is expected to start in December this year. The chief minister plans to visit all districts during these visits. The party and the state government have been asked to start preparing for the Assembly elections in Bihar,” said a senior JD(U) leader based in Patna.

Kumar would be the face of the campaign and would again lead the alliance in Bihar, according to the JD(U)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state.

Senior JD(U) leaders also pointed out that the chief minister ordered that the programme of providing drinking water to all households by December should be completed before he starts visiting the districts. The impact of the state government’s project was such that after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA returned to power in May 2019, the Union government decided to replicate the programme at the national level.

“The completion of the programme to provide safe drinking water in all homes is the first step towards starting the election campaign. It is an ambitious project and would help reduce many health-related problems of people, mainly in rural areas,” said the JD(U) leader quoted earlier.

Party members also said that the chief minister has told senior officials to complete all government programmes by March 2020, adding that detailed feedback would be taken from the beneficiaries of these programmes.

The JD(U) has come up with a new slogan this time—‘Kyon karen vichaar, theeke to hain Nitish Kumar—that roughly translates to “Where’s the need to think about political alternatives when Nitish Kumar is doing just fine”. The slogan has been used in posters across Patna.

Slogans have played a crucial role in Kumar’s campaign. The JD(U) leader had earlier used slogans such as “Bihar mein bahar hai. Nitish Kumar hai (There is a bloom in Bihar. It is Nitish Kumar)” and “Sachcha hai, achha hai, chalo Nitish ke saath chalo (He is honest, he is good, let us go with Nitish Kumar)”.

“The JD(U) had won 71 seats in the 2015 Assembly elections, and the party has asked all legislators to ensure that the benefits of development and welfare programmes reach people of their constituencies. The government will try to complete development programmes and the party will try to popularise those,” the JD(U) leader said. Bihar assembly has a total of 243 seats.