Patna, June 17: The JDU would launch a mass contact programme this month before the chief minister undertakes his tour of the districts with the polls on his mind.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar's tour is proposed to begin in July and end sometime in August. The party's mass contact initiative, christened Parche Per Charcha (discussion on documents), is planned earlier - from June 24-30.
Party functionaries have been asked to make arrangements to reach out to the people in this period to work on a multi-pronged strategy to create a mood among the people in favour of Nitish ahead of his district tour.
"The Parche Per Charcha programme would highlight the good works done by Nitish, expose the hollowness of promises made by the BJP in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections and also quell the general conception that the JDU, joining hands with Lalu Prasad's RJD, was about to compromise on its USP of rule of law," a JDU functionary told The Telegraph.
With a ring of the BJP's Chai pe Charcha initiative in its name, the BJP has claimed the JDU is aping it. But JDU functionaries vehemently claim Parche Per Charcha has nothing to do with the BJP's campaign style.
"While the BJP believes in talking and doing nothing, our programme would be fact-based and even the achievements, that would be highlighted, would be substantiated with figures," a JDU worker maintained.
To showcase achievements of the Nitish government, the party would highlight construction of roads and bridges, special steps taken to promote school education, in general, and among girls in particular, improvement in the power situation, law and order and measures taken for the financially backward people. The meetings would also highlight the alleged failures of the Narendra Modi government to fulfil the promises made to the people during the Lok Sabha campaigning. "Denial of special status to Bihar, failure to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks are some of the main points that would be raised," a general secretary said.
According to the JDU's game plan, the meetings would be conducted in the urban and rural areas. Lower-level party workers would be briefed about dates and timings of the meetings so that they can ensure maximum people turn up at the venue on the designated day.
"We have requested the party headquarters for a concise video to highlight the government's achievements as visuals have a lasting impact on the memory of people," a district-level functionary in north Bihar said, adding that the final word on the video is yet to come from the party leadership. The party would also pull out all stops to dispel fears of return of lawlessness to Bihar following the JDU-RJD alliance in the state. A JDU official said party workers have been specifically told to drill in the message of no-compromise on law and order in the people's minds. "Nitish ji would not make any compromise on this issue and would even sacrifice his government. This message would be conveyed through these meetings to quell the impression that by joining hands with RJD, Nitish would compromise on governance," added the JDU general secretary.
Nitish hinted as much on Friday too. Addressing a felicitation function of police officers on Friday, the chief minister said "nobody will be allowed to play with the rule of law", the foundation of governance.
The BJP was quick to criticise its once ally on Parche Per Charcha though. "They are aping us but they appear to have forgotten that apart from reaching out to the people through such programmes, the BJP also has a dedicated army of workers who worked tirelessly to mobilise the people's support ahead of the general elections. Such efforts of JDU would not have any positive outcome," Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav said.
