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The Bharatiya Janta Party plans to ride the upcoming Bihar assembly polls battle on four raths (chariots) that will helm the party's much hyped parivartan yatra that was set in motion from four locations across Bihar on Wednesday ahead of the upcoming polls.
“The four raths, brought in from Chattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, are considered lucky by the BJP as they were used during the last year’s general elections and ensured the saffron party's victory. Now the BJP is using the same four raths in Bihar for its victory in coming assembly polls,” a senior BJP leader told Rediff.com in Patna.
According to local BJP leaders, these four raths are being used for the party's campaign from four different places in the state.
Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh launched the parivartan yatra from Sonepur after offering prayers at a local temple in the Saran district.
Another Union minister and senior BJP leader Anant Kumar has launched the party's parivartan yatra from Rajgir in Nalanda district.
Union minister and former BJP president Nitin Gadkari launched the rath from Dalsinhsarai and Jharkhand chief minister Raghuvar Das launched parivartan rath from Bihta some 30 kms from Patna.
Though the parivartan yatra is a BJP show, party’s allies like the Lok Janshakti Party, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha leaders were present along with the saffron party leaders at the time of launching of it at four places.
By launching parivartan yatra, the BJP has speed up its campaign following good public response to the two rallies addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Muzaffarpur and Gaya.
Last month, BJP president Amit Shah launched the party's high-tech parivartan rath campaign.
Shah flagged off 160 GPS-fitted raths to reach out to peoples in all villages across the state.
The party plans to hold 1,00,000 meetings in 100 days ahead of the assembly elections.
The BJP president, known for his poll management and innovative strategy to counter rivals, has named the high-tech chariots parivartan raths to send out a political message that “people in all 243 Bihar assembly seats want change”.
“The BJP's focus is clearly to mobilise people for a change in Bihar and to free them from the 'jungle raj' of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who joined hands with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad," the state BJP leader said.
Leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly and senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav said the state's people were fed up with Nitish Kumar's bad governance and deteriorating law and order.