Bihar polls: JD-U, BJP undertake Rath Yatra blitzkrieg to attract voters

BJP president Amit Shah flags off 160 Parivartan Raths from Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Thursday

In a race to attract voters in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, both the BJP and the JD (U) are engaged a new kind of political warfare these days. Their weapon of choice is,  "Rath" or specially designed publicity vehicle.  Launching the saffron party's "Parivartan Yatra", BJP president Amit Shah flagged off 160 "Parivartan Raths" from Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Thursday.

These publicity vehicles would cover most of the assembly segments in the state. Each rath is equipped with a 56-inch LED TV, surround sound speakers and microphones. The BJP plans to cover over 40,000 villages and 400 towns through these raths.

At each stop, these Raths will show videos of 15 years of "Lalu-Rabri Raj", turnaround witnessed during seven and half years of NDA rule and the state's poor condition during two and half years of Nitish Kumar led JD (U) rule with support of the RJD and Congress. Besides, there would be nukkad meetings and pamphlet distribution at every stop. The party insiders claim that each rath have costed more than Rs 1.5 lakh to the BJP.

This BJP's campaign is the response of the Nitish government's "Badh Chala Bihar" initiative. Earlier last month, the Bihar Chief Minister launched this high-tech campaign of the state government to directly reach out to the masses and seek ideas for the state's development. The initiative is a brain child of Kumar's campaign manager Prashant Kishore, who was earlier a pivotal strategist for Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha polls. The campaign is being run by the Information and Publicity Department of the state government, but managed by Kishore's team.