This Article is From May 12, 2016

Nitish Kumar Stars As Mahabharat's Arjun In PM Modi's Constituency Today

Nitish Kumar will be in Varanasi today and is expected to highlight prohibition at the party convention.

Highlights

  • The Bihar chief minister will address a party convention in Varanasi
  • JD(U) campaign in UP part of plan to take Brand Nitish national
  • Nitish Kumar to pitch prohibition for UP after Bihar goes dry
Varanasi: Nitish Kumar is featured as Mahabharat's crusading Arjun on posters and banners that dot Pindra in Uttar Pradesh, about 30 km away from Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The theme: a declaration of "war on Narendra Modi and communal forces."

Pindra is the venue for a convention of Mr Kumar's Janata Dal United that begins today, as the Bihar-based party makes its first big foray into neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections will be held early next year.

The JD(U)'s Uttar Pradesh plans are part of the strategy to take 'Brand Nitish' national in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Mr Kumar has not been coy about the possibility of him being projected as the Opposition's face to counter PM Modi in the national election.

Nitish Kumar will be in Varanasi today and is expected to highlight prohibition at the party convention. He declared Bihar dry this April, keeping a promise he made to women voters who contributed significantly to his big win in the state elections last year.

Mr Kumar believes making this a nationwide campaign will bring big electoral benefits for the party. "Prohibition is the big success story in Bihar and we want to use it to our advantage across the country and take the footprint of our party from Bihar all across the country," says Shyam Rajak, a senior JDU leader.

The choice of Varanasi to begin his UP bid is not just symbolic though. Many pockets in the district have a sizeable population of Kurmis, a caste that supports Nitish Kumar's party in Bihar.

Eastern Uttar Pradesh is also right next to Bihar and the party feels it can have an impact in this region in the 2017 assembly elections.

The JD(U) tried to tie up with Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal or RLD, but the alliance did not work out.
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