Patna, May 11: Chief minister Nitish Kumar will address a political rally in an area under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi tomorrow.

In the JDU's first major gathering since Nitish took on the party president's mantle, Nitish will address the cadres at Pindara in Uttar Pradesh that goes to the polls next year. The JDU is likely to use this rally in the heartland as a stepping-stone to go national.

Modi represents Varanasi in Lok Sabha and Pindara is a portion in the segment.

Speaking to The Telegraph over phone, Uttar Pradesh JDU president Niranjan Bhaiya, busy preparing for the conference, said: "Our party workers are working overtime to make the conference successful. They are spread across every division of the state to invite people. We have our teams in Bundelkhand, Meerut, Bareilly, Gorakahpur, Saharanpur and other divisions."

Nitish will address the conference on the campus of Pindara Rajkiye Inter College, which can accommodate around 20,000 people. Nitish's predecessor Sharad Yadav will also address the gathering apart from other senior leaders of the party, including K.C. Tyagi and Bihar JDU chief Bashishtha Narayan Singh.

"The aim of this conference is to give a call to all like-minded parties to gather on one platform to defeat the 'communal' BJP," stressed Niranjan. "Nitish ji has emerged a national leader and he has given the first call on this front to form the anti-BJP group to save the democratic fabric of the society. In every district, we have around 200 to 400 active members and also cadres of Lok Dal."

He added that Nitish would also attend Ganga Aarti in Varanasi apart from visiting Sankatmochan temple on May 13.

Many senior leaders like RCP Singh, former MLA Satish Kumar, general secretary Anil Kumar, minister Santosh Kumar Nirala, party treasurer Ranvir Nandan and MLC Niraj Kumar and Chandeshwar Chandravanshi are already camping in Pindara to take stock of the preparations.

The conference is also important because Nitish will address the gathering in the land of Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had pulled out of the merger of the Janata parivar.

The Pindara conference is crucial because from there, Nitish will try to project himself as an alternative to the Modi-led dispensation from the latter's bastion.