With three critical phases of polling still to go on in Bihar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has lent support to Mahagatbandhan - the Grand Alliance - appealing voters to bring back Nitish Kumar for the sake of the country.
"Request you all in Bihar to please vote to re-elect Nitish Kumar ji as CM for greater need of our country and development in State," Banerjee tweeted within hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Chapra on Sunday. Apart from Chapra, the PM attended three more rallies.
The appeal comes at a time when BJP has launched a Modi-blitzkrieg in the state. Modi has so far addressed 13 rallies since the first in Muzzafarpur on July 25 and now he is slated to talk at 17 more in next one week. Referring to them as brothers, Modi today tore into both Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar, saying that the two have ruled Bihar for 25 years.
Banerjee is the second non-Congress, non-BJP chief minister to bat for Nitish Kumar. Earlier, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had visited Bihar, singing praises for Nitish's governance. The duo were initially supposed to address election rallies, however that did not materialise. Many see this digital bonhomie will translate into a loose coalition inside Parliament too.
JD (U) leader Pavan K Verma told reporters that Banerjee's words were more than vote-catching. "Support of a chief minister of an adjoining state has great meaning. It is more than symbolic and moral; it is a sign that anti-Modi expression is gaining ground across India."
