Nitish turns to ‘Rath’ politics to consolidate party base

With assembly elections not very far away, the ruling Janata Dal (United) headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar in Bihar has announced to take out a series of “Rath Yatras” to connect with the masses.

In a fresh development, the party has decided to take out “Nirbhay Rath” and “Aman Rath” across the state.

“The Nirbhay Rath will tell the masses how the law and order situation has improved across the state while the Aman Rath will spread the message of peace”, party’s Bihar state president Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said today.

Last week, the party had flagged off Kisan Rath and Karpoori Rath to make people know about the government’s achievements in different fields.

Caught in a bind, the party is now primarily getting dependent on rath politics amid reports that everything is not well within the party or the entire NDA coalition.

Top party leaders like Lalan Singh, a prominent Bhumihar leader and Member of Parliament, and Prabhunath Singh, former MP and influential Rajput caste leader have of late revolted against the party and are said to be busy chalking strategy to dethrone chief minister Nitish Kumar.