Nitish Star Attraction in NDA Rally
The BJP-led NDA’s rally in Ludhiana can be called a grand success judging by the presence of senior BJP leaders top NDA leaders, particularly JD-U and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar who was star attraction in the rally due to the recent speculation of his being in touch with the Third Front and Congress leaders.
In the rally, held in favour of Akali candidate GS Galib, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani, party chief Rajnath Singh and senior BJP leaders were present in strength.
In the rally, JD-U president Sharad Yadav was also present. Both Kumar and Yadav were given seats next to Advani and Rajnath Singh.
Nitish Kumar, who had recently said that his party would not accept Gujarat CM and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi for prime ministership, greeted Modi on the dais and both clasped each other’s hand and raised it in greeting to the crowds.
It should be mentioned that the election rally here was being seen as a show of strength by the BJP to show that its allies in the NDA are intact in the run up to the fifth and last phase of the 2009 general elections to be conducted on Wednesday.
Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh, Asom Gana Parishad President Chandra Mohan Patowary, former Haryana chief minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) president Om Prakash Chautala and Shiv Sena leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi were also present.
The arrival of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao at the rally gave a boost to the NDA leadership. The TRS, which was earlier with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), had joined the Left-led Third Front floated recently.
BJP-ruled state chief ministers Narendra Mr. Modi (Gujarat), B.S. Yeddyurappa (Karnataka), Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Prem Mr. Kumar Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh) and B.C. Khanduri (Uttarakhand) also arrived for the rally.
The rally is being co-hosted by the BJP’s alliance partner in the state, the Akali Dal.
