Patna, Oct. 26: Narendra Modi and Amit Shah continue to ride roughshod over the state party leaders. Despite a midway change in the BJP's Bihar strategy to focus on local leaders, the Gujarati pair still occupy the lion's share of Patna's poll poster-scape.
Barring a few billboards near the airport that have pictures of state BJP leaders like Sushil Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav, Giriraj Singh, etc, it's Modi-Shah all the way.
It is for the first time that Shah has joined Modi to dominate the political landscape of a state election in such a big way, BJP sources said. Many saw it in an attempt by Shah to emerge from being Modi's backstage manager to lieutenant in battle as a mass leader.
Post the landslide victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Modi was the face of almost all the state elections (Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand) the party fought. Shah was more occupied with backroom strategy.
The new strategy to project Shah along with Modi was a last-minute alteration, according to sources in the Bihar BJP. Billboards and hoardings worth lakhs - that were ready to be delivered - were cancelled at the last moment to include Shah's face along with Modi, sources in the Patna BJP revealed.
"Since it was decided we will contest the polls in Modi ji's name without projecting a chief ministerial face, the hoardings with the PM's pictures were ready," a senior BJP leader in Patna told The Telegraph. "At the last minute, orders came from top that Amit Shahji's pictures should also be there. Hoardings worth over Rs 50 lakh were junked and redone."
In the new hoardings, larger than life-size pictures of Modi and Shah accompany the slogan " Badlo sarkar, badlo Bihar (Change the government, change Bihar)" with nary a local leader in sight.
The idea, Bihar BJP leaders said, could be to present a pair to take on the Nitish-Lalu duo of the rival Grand Alliance. But the state leaders also feared that the strategy could cost the party dearly in the keenly fought elections.
"Everyone in Bihar loves Narendra Modi but who knows Amit Shah? He had only been a backroom man for Modi ji", said a state BJP leader, upset that the central leadership did not project the party's state leadership.
Another sign that Shah is ready to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight is the number of rallies the BJP president is addressing. State BJP leaders said that he has surpassed the Prime Minister in addressing rallies.
"He (Shah) could be trying to become a mass leader," said another disgruntled BJP leader, angry that the state leaders were kept out from the billboards. "Otherwise where was the need for him to address so many rallies in a place like Bihar where very few people know him?"
The Modi-Shah hoardings coupled with their whirlwind campaigns led Nitish Kumar to pit the polls as a fight between "Bihari versus bahari (outsiders)." After feedback from the ground warned that Nitish's slogan was having an impact on the voters, the BJP tried to change tack and some local leaders found their mugshots on posters.
Along with Modi, the Bihar elections are also crucial for Shah, whose term as party president expires early next year.
Party insiders said that there were already rumours about Shah returning to Gujarat if the BJP fails to win Bihar. Publicly, of course, Shah has been saying that the Bihar polls are not a referendum on the Modi government.
