Gaya/Jehanabad: Despite heavy rain, leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav kicked off his "NDA bhagao, beti bachao" bicycle march from Gaya's Gandhi Maidan on Saturday.

Thousands of RJD supporters, MLAs and senior leaders too rode a bicycle with Tejashwi, who covered 55km from Gaya to Jehanabad.

Continuous rain, however, upset plans. Instead of going to the Mahabodi temple at 8am, as planned, he reached there around 11.30 am. From there he travelled another 7km to Gandhi Maidan in his specially-designed campaign van, Bhojpuri songs in support of RJD chief Lalu Prasad playing at full volume inside.

At Gandhi Maidan, RJD supporters holding party flags and banners stood in the rain, raising slogans in support of their leaders. Tejashwi chose Gaya to slam Nitish because it is the same district where a man's wife and daughter were raped in front of him. Moreover, several rape videos have gone viral from Gaya. When Tejashwi reached Gandhi Maidan, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi was already there with his supporters. In another corner of the ground, there was a cemented stage on which leaders where addressing people. Many senior RJD leaders, like Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, were there.

As it was raining continuously, there was a thin crowd initially. But once the rain stopped, more people turned out after Tejashwi paid floral tributes at the Gandhi Stupa. Tejashwi then set off on his bicycle along with thousands of young supporters.

It turned chaotic as passers-by began taking selfies with Tejashwi. His staff stepped in to control the situation.

While passing through the main Gaya town market, Tejashwi and RJD MLAs like Akhtarul Shahin, Rajendra Ram, Shakti Yadav, Kumar Sarvjeet and others touched National Highway 83. Tejashwi's personal assistant Mani Yadav and political adviser Sanjay Yadav also rode with him, making way for the leader. They wore green T-shirts. Leading their way was the van with Bhola Yadav inside. Tejashwi stopped at all places to accept greeting from people. He kept waving at supporters all through the way. Many Dalit women had turned out to welcome him at Dharnai village.

Lalu had cycled from the chief minister's residence to the secretariat, during the Gulf War, to express his concern at the fuel crisis.

Tejashwi stopped at Ikbal, Chakand, Neori and two places in Bela and Dharnai in Gaya. He then stopped at Makhdumpur, Tehata, Sarthua, Irki and Jehanabad. He changed his bicycle four times, blaming chief minister Nitish Kumar for the condition of the roads. At one point, his cycle tyre got punctured too. "See how bad is the condition of roads on this national highway. Nitin Gadkari and Nitish just talk big on roads," Tejashwi told The Telegraph in Bela.

Lalu's personal aide kept providing him water, juice, fruits, glucose water and rasgulla. The cycle march will conclude in Patna on July 30.

Tejashwi's elder brother Tej Pratap was not part of Saturday's march.