Eyes Pinned at Nitish, He attends NDA’s rally or he attends it not
In view of current political scenario in which no one can be called one’s ally as long as the results are out and a coalition takes shape, all eyes will be on whether JD-U leader and Bihar CM Nitish Kumara attends the Suday’s election rally of NDA to be held in industrial town of Ludhiana.
The election rally, to be held in favour of NDA constituent Akali Dal’s candidate GS Galib, is a show of strength by the BJP to manifest that the NDA is intact in the run-up to Wednesday’s fifth and last phase of the 2009 general elections.
A BJP minister in Punjab government said that Nitish Kumar’s attending the rally is important for the NDA, for it will send a clear message to those trying to break some allies of the NDA.
In the rally, all top BJP leaders, including its prime ministerial candidate L K Advani, party president Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states including Gujarat’s Narendra Modi and top leaders of NDA allies are expected to take part.
Top NDA leaders as JD-U president Sharad Yadav, Indian National Lok Dal president and former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh, Asom Gana Parishad president Chandra Mohan Patowary and Shiv Sena leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi will also attend the rally, which is being described as “historic” by BJP.
In addition, BJP-ruled state chief ministers Narendra Modi, B S Yeddyurappa (Karnataka), Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Prem Kumar Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh) and BC Khanduri (Uttarakhand) will also be present at the rally.
BJP leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi will also be in Ludhiana.
Other BJP leaders such as Jaswant Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Gopinath Munde will also be present.
The rally will be co-hosted by BJP’s alliance partner in the state, the Akali Dal.
The presence of Nitish Kumar in rally can influence hundreds of Bihari migrants in Punjab.
G S Galib, the Akali candidate in whose favour the rally is to be organised, has been a Congressman for nearly five decades before shifting to the ruling Akali Dal in Punjab recently.
