Chief minister Nitish Kumar at a public meeting in Bagaha as part of his Vikas Yatra. Telegraph picture

Patna, Sept. 21: Chief minister Nitish Kumar is all set to travel again for a local cause with sights set on national politics.

Termed Sewa Yatra, the primary goal of his journey slated for November is to check if right to service is serving its purpose. But political pundits are looking at it as a ploy to counter the Sadbhavna Yatra being undertaken by Nitish’s Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi to project himself as a prime ministerial candidate.

The Sewa Yatra would continue over a long period of time. The Bihar chief minister would be spending two to three days in each district and interact with people directly. The journey might culminate just before the next Lok Sabha polls.

“It will be just the way to prepare for the elections. All the other yatras have paid rich political dividends to Nitish Kumar,” a senior JD(U) leader said.

RJD MP Ramkripal Yadav said: “It (the yatra) is aimed at the next Lok Sabha polls in which he hopes to project himself as a prime ministerial candidate.”

State secretary of CPI Badri Narayan Lal said: “It is basically an image-building exercise and aimed at creating confusion among the masses about the real issues.”

The upcoming yatra of Nitish appears to have made the Opposition jittery.

Yadav said: “Let Nitish do his Sewa Yatra. We will take out Pole Khol Yatra (journey to expose) later.”

Sewa Yatra would be Nitish’s sixth journey since February, 2005. Each of them was meticulously planned and had specific target.

He undertook the Nyay Yatra (journey for justice) immediately after the hung Assembly was dissolved in February, 2005. The Yatra gave a headway start to the NDA in the run-up to the November 2005 Assembly polls.

The Vikas (development) Yatra was undertaken in January 2009. It laid the foundation for the Lok Sabha polls in which the NDA had a spectacular result in Bihar. It was followed by Dhanyawad (thanksgiving) Yatra to thank the people for votes he obtained in the Lok Sabha polls.

The Prawas Yatra was aimed at implementing governance in remote districts. The next was Viswas (confidence) Yatra just before the Assembly polls.

Not surprisingly, RJD chief Lalu Prasad christened it as Vote Yatra and alleged that Nitish was campaigning for the Assembly polls at the cost of the public.

Nitish-led NDA bagged 206 out of the 243 seats in the Assembly.