Today in Politics: PM Modi in Bihar, Priyanka-Dimple Yadav roadshow in Varanasi

Priyanka Gandhi will also address a rally with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Yogi Adityanath’s turf Gorakhpur. Plus, some recommended readings.

The PM will be in Bihar on Saturday to address three back-to-back rallies in Pataliputra constituency. Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and SP leader Dimple Yadav, party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, will hold a roadshow on the PM’s turf from 4 pm. (PTI photos)

And now all that is left is the final lap. With 58 seats in eight states and Union Territories, including Delhi, going to polls on Saturday, the action shifts to the final stretch of his long-drawn parliamentary election. Among the states where polling is being held at a single go on June 1 are Himachal Pradesh, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally on Friday, and Punjab with its 13 seats.

The PM will be in Bihar on Saturday to address three back-to-back rallies in Pataliputra constituency near Patna, where the Opposition RJD candidate is Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti; Karakat in Rohtas district, where the NDA candidate is former state minister Upendra Kushwaha; and Buxar where the RJD candidate is RJD state president Jagdanand Singh’s son and former state minister Sudhakar Singh. Modi is also scheduled to address a rally in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.

Bihar is a crucial battleground where the BJP-led NDA is facing a stiff challenge from the RJD-led Mahagathbadhan. For the NDA, Bihar is not going to be a cakewalk and that explains the PM’s relentless campaign schedule in the state. As Santosh Singh explained in his article earlier this week, five factors are at play in Bihar at the moment. Though the Narendra Modi factor is a big one and is the NDA’s biggest strength, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has been gaining ground over his jobs pitch and this has coincided with a visible weakening of BJP ally and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. However, as a BJP leader tells Santosh, Nitish cannot be ruled out.

Here are some of our more recent ground reports from Bihar:

Among the seats scheduled for voting in the final phase is PM Modi’s Varanasi constituency. On Saturday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and SP leader Dimple Yadav, party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, will hold a roadshow on the PM’s turf from 4 pm. They will be campaigning for UP Congress president Ajay Rai who is the party’s candidate in the constituency. Varanasi is a BJP stronghold and has been with the party since 1991 except in 2004, when it elected Rajesh Kumar Mishra the MP. Mishra joined the BJP in March.

Priyanka will arrive in Varanasi from Gorakhpur after addressing a public meeting along with Akhilesh on Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s turf.

Meanwhile, both Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will be in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday, with Shah scheduled to address a rally in Kangra, Una, and Kharge in Rohru in Shimla district. Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address a rally in Amritsar, Punjab, where his party is contesting against not just the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) but also its national ally Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Whether Rahul modulates his speech as per his party’s objective for the state and targets the AAP as vociferously as he does the BJP and PM Modi will be among the things to watch out for.

5 recommended readings as Phase 6 polling gets underway: