BJP president J.P. Nadda’s roadshow in Patna on Saturday was marred by a fight among party workers while a visit to his old college was hit by student protests, with police stepping in to disperse the crowd on both occasions.

Nadda arrived in Bihar to inaugurate a two-day joint national executive of all the seven morchas, or fronts, of the BJP representing the youths, women, farmers, minority communities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

Over 750 delegates from all over the country had arrived earlier this week. Most of them camped across 200 Assembly constituencies as part of the BJP’s mass outreach programme, being seen as a thrust to secure Bihar amid fears that the party may not be able to repeat its performance in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Some are seeing the event as muscle-flexing by the BJP in Bihar with an eye on the 2025 Assembly elections.

Nadda embarked on the roadshow from the statue of B.R. Ambedkar on Bailey Road to the statue of Jayaprakash Narayan — a distance of around 2km.

However, party workers loyal to different leaders clashed with each other at a place on the route before Nadda reached there. Chaos prevailed for some time before a few leaders stepped in to control the situation. The police used mild force to disperse the warring groups.

“This is what happens if you bring in ‘biker gangs’ and goons into the party. Increasing the number of followers and supporters is okay, but do not compromise on discipline for it,” a BJP MLA told this newspaper on the condition of anonymity.

Later, Nadda visited Patna College, his alma mater, where students affiliated to the Left parties waved black flags and posters, shouted slogans asking him to “go back”, and sought central university status for Patna University. Many demanded that the New Education Policy be discarded.

The police lathicharged the students after they blocked Nadda.

The BJP president also chaired a gram sansad (village parliament) attended by panchayat representatives. Janata Dal United (JDU) leader and Bihar water resources minister Sanjay Jha was invited to the event as a guest speaker, but he did not show up.

“The Congress failed to implement the ‘gram swarajya’ visualised by Mahatma Gandhi to make the villages self-reliant. The BJP is implementing it by empowering the panchayats, increasing their efficiency, using digital technology to make plans and monitor them as well as increasing expenditure on them,” Nadda said on the occasion.