 |
| Sitaram Yechury, HD Deve Gowda, AB Bardhan, Nitish Kumar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Prakash Karat and Sharad Yadav at the convention against communalism at Talkatora stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday. Picture by Rajesh Kumar n See P4 |
Patna, Oct. 30: Narendra Modi will return to Bihar on Saturday to meet family members of the six persons who died in the serial blasts on Sunday when the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate addressed the Hunkar Rally.
Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi made the announcement through a couple of tweets: “#Namo will be visiting family members of al the 6 victims who died because of bomb blast in Patna on 27 Oct.Nkumar has not visited till now.”
“#Namo will visit blast victims on 2nd Nov Choti Deepavali day.He will start from Patna by Helicopter beginning 7 AM.”
Sushil Modi said the Gujarat chief minister would come to Patna on a chartered flight and proceed for Kaimur, Gopalganj, Supaul, Begusarai and Nalanda to meet the family members of those killed. He will return to Ahmedabad the same evening.
The office of Narendra Modi has confirmed the visit.
As many as eight explosions had gone off in a span of a little over three hours at Patna Junction railway station — where BJP supporters were arriving from all over the state — and Gandhi Maidan where Modi was the star speaker.
The last of the blasts went off at 12.45pm, around 15 minutes before Modi reached the venue. In addition, at least four live bombs have been recovered from the maidan.
Narendra Modi’s whistle-stop tour on Saturday will also take him to Nalanda, the home district of chief minister Nitish Kumar. This is being seen as Modi’s “raid” on the bastion of Nitish, who launched a vicious counter-attack on the BJP’s prime ministerial nominee at the JD(U)’s party convention yesterday in Rajgir.
While the JD(U) described Modi’s second visit as part of “malicious efforts at politics over dead bodies”, the BJP interpreted it as a “genuine and sensitive” move.
“Nitish seldom goes out to meet the people, dead or injured, during tragic incidents — be it the death of 23 children from eating toxic midday meal or the martyrdom of Bihar jawans on the borders of Jammu and Kashmir,” Sushil Modi said. “We do not want to be as insensitive as Nitish is.”
Modi’s visit so soon after the explosions has thrown the security apparatus into a tizzy.
“As Modi is an ASL (advance security liaison) protectee, he would be provided security according to the rule book. He comes under Z-plus security,” a senior police official said under cover of anonymity.
BJP leaders Sushil Modi and Mangal Pandey met Governor D.Y. Patil and asked him to ensure adequate security for Narendra Modi.
While the BJP looked to cash in on what it sees as a sympathetic mood among the people following the blasts, the JD(U) battled growing rebellion in its rank and file.
JD(U) legislator from Supaul Neeraj Kumar “Bablu” backed senior party leaders Narendra Singh and Shivanand Tiwari’s outbursts at the Rajgir convention. The duo had attacked Nitish (without naming him) for ignoring loyal party workers at the cost of “new entrants”. Tiwari went to the extent of advising Nitish not to “underestimate” Narendra Modi, who, he said, had emerged as a “formidable” campaigner.