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Modi sets aside Wednesday to focus on Bihar polls

October 06, 2015 16:56 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly cancelled all his appointments on Wednesday, as he is keen on concentrating on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s poll campaign in Bihar.

About three hours have been assigned to party leaders from Bihar to ensure coordination for October 12, the first polling day in Bihar. Modi is expected to address four mega rallies in the state around that time -- he has allotted his party two days before each one of the five phases of polling.

According to insiders, Modi wants to sort out internal issues pertaining to their alliance with other regional parties (the Hindustani Awam Morcha, the Lok Janashakti Party and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party) and ensure the combine presents a unified face before the electorate.

Modi’s final appeal for the first phase of polls is ‘Mujhe 160 kamal do -- Kamal khilega Bihar mein’ (give me 160 lotuses; let the lotus bloom in Bihar). The 160 here refers to the constituencies in the state.

Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with HAM-S chief Jitan Ram Manjhi (right) and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan during an election rally in Banka in this photograph taken on September 29. Photograph: PTI Photo.

A correspondent in New Delhi