Apart from the beef brouhaha and name-calling, what has characterised the run-up to the elections this year has been the absence of star power.

Ajay Devgn, who starred in Prakash Jha's 2010 movie Raajneeti, airdropped into Patna on Friday and campaigned in four assembly constituencies for the BJP. Soon after arriving at the airport and smiling for the cameras at the VIP lounge alongside Sushil Kumar Modi, actor and MP Manoj Tiwari and BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, Devgn hopped onto a chopper with former minister and BJP leader Prem Kumar, and campaigned in Jhajha, Parbatta, Lakhisarai and Rajauli.

But the Bollywood actor is an exception so far, even though campaigning for the first phase of the Assembly elections concludes on Saturday. A number of big names in the list of "star campaigners" of different parties have been missing in action.

Though about a dozen Union ministers are canvassing for the NDA candidates by addressing public meets in the state's hinterlands, the BJP's list of absconding leaders include veterans such as L.K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi and popular figures such as the "disgruntled" Shatrughan Sinha, despite their names being on the list the party had submitted to the Election Commission.

BJP spokesperson Sanjay Mayukh asserted that it was all part of the plan: "We are bringing the star campaigners in a well-planned and phased manner. The party has a strategy on when to bring which star campaigner to canvass. All 40 star campaigners would be seen in election rallies." The Congress too has not rolled out big guns such as Manmohan Singh and Sheila Dixit, though admittedly there is a big question mark over their appeal to the ordinary Bihari. "We bring star campaigners as per request from candidates," declared Congress spokesperson H.K. Verma. "Big leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Meira Kumar have come for campaigning. Today also Sachin Pilot held rallies. More star campaigners would be brought based on request from the candidates in the later stages."

Meanwhile, chief minister Nitish Kumar is leading from the front - with 51 election rallies as on Friday - and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of course, has unleashed a veritable blitzkrieg of rallies.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh, who broke ties with the Grand Alliance at the last moment and sprung a surprise by fielding candidates in 146 seats instead of the 85 declared earlier, has not been seen on the ground yet, and will begin his Bihar battle on Sunday. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has also not attended any election rallies yet.