BJP to focus on package, development agenda in Bihar

Running an aggressive campaign in the high stakes Bihar assembly elections, BJP will focus on the Rs 1.25 lakh crore package in its second round of electioneering and hopes to cash on voters who it feels are no longer swayed by issues like caste to trounce the Nitish-Lalu combine.
Highly-placed party sources said BJP would start its second round of 'parivartan rath' (campaign for change) from Wednesday and highlight its development agenda centred around the massive package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.
The 'parivartan raths' had covered all of over 43,000 villages in the state during which it focused on Nitish Kumar's "mis-governance" following his split with BJP in 2013.

Pitted against the formidable JD(U)-RJD-COngress alliance, BJP feels that close to 30 per cent of voters in the caste-ridden politics of the state are no longer influenced by the identity politics.
In an informal interaction with journalists, a top leader made light of reports about the ruling combine's social strength, saying it was more on paper than on ground.
He added that Kumar had lost his USP of good governance by tying up with Prasad and the NDA's campaign about his "mis-governance" following his split with BJP in 2013 was generating a buzz.

Asked if the alliance of JD(U), RJD and Congress had an edge as together they pulled over 9 per cent more votes than the NDA in Lok Sabha polls last year, he said the arithmetic was unlikely to hold good now as many people who had voted for Kumar were unlikely to vote him due to his alliance with Prasad and vice versa.

He, however, sounded concerned over the rocketing price of onion, saying the Narendra Modi government was taking measures to check the trend. "Government is dealing with that," he said.
Asked about Kumar's campaign over "Bihar pride" against BJP over Prime Minister Modi's jibe at his DNA, he said mockingly that it was a campaign only in media.
He dismissed party MP Shatrughan Sinha's statements lauding Kumar, saying BJP leadership will deal with him after the elections.
He said choice of candidates will be important and the NDA constituents will sit together to pick them.